Obama to See Detroit, Auto Industry Comeback Firsthand

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DETROIT, MI – President Barack Obama is scheduled to tour the North American International Auto Show Wednesday and see the glitzy automobiles from an industry his administration is partially responsible for saving, but before he does, he’ll visit a Detroit neighborhood to hear from residents about how the auto industry comeback has affected them.

Obama is making the visit to Detroit “to hear firsthand from local citizens about the ongoing revitalization in the city and have a discussion about Detroit’s resurgence in terms of what it means to them,” the White House said Monday.

The visit is Obama’s first to the Auto Show and his 18th to Michigan since his election in 2008, when two of the Big Three automakers were teetering on the brink of financial collapse. His administration pushed through a controversial $80 billion bailout that helped Chrysler and General Motors move through structured bankruptcies in 2009. Both have repaid the loans.

Any doubts that the auto industry has rebounded were erased by record sales in 2015. Americans bought nearly 17.5 million cars and trucks, up about 6 percent from 2014 and higher than the previous record of 17.4 million set in 2000, according to figures from sales tracker Autodata.

“Some said it was too late to turn things around. But I refused to turn my back on so many of the workers that I’d met.” Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio address. “Instead, I placed my bet on American workers. I placed my bet on American manufacturing.”

The plan “wasn’t popular,” Obama said. “Critics said it was a ‘road to socialism,’ or a ‘disaster’ waiting to happen. But I’d make that bet again any day of the week. Because today, the American auto industry is back.”

Automakers have added 640 new jobs, and the Detroit area unemployment rate has been cut by more than half — now 5.2 percent.

It’s unclear what parts of Detroit Obama will visit. He’s also scheduled to speak at the UAW-GM Center for Human Resources in Detroit before he departs.

» Photo by Gage Skidmore via Creative Commons