Yesterday, Obama pitched his party tent in Holland, Mich., a town that's received hundreds of millions of dollars in stimulus funding from the Obama administration. But despite the taxpayer-funded infusion of funds, the region still struggles with 12% unemployment and was not very receptive of the president's reassurance. The Wall Street Journal reported:
"I wish he'd save his money and not come to Western Michigan," said Becky DeWind, co-owner of a company that received nearly $95,000 in stimulus money to neutralize radioactive contamination in groundwater—her only U.S. business in a year. "They were just swiping a Chinese charge card for it anyway, and my kid's got to pick up the tab."
In the latest stop on his “Recovery Summer” tour, rock star President Barack Obama landed in Holland, Michigan Thursday, insulted its congressman, handed American stimulus dollars to a Korean corporation, and proclaimed Obamanomics a success even as Michigan has lost 94,000 jobs since his Recovery Act was enacted.
All in all, another day in the life of an increasingly unpopular president who seems to be living in an alternative universe. ...
Obama couldn’t even get his manners right. Ever the partisan, he took a shot at his host, Holland Congressional representative Pete Hoekstra who was in the audience. Despite opposing the Recovery Act, Hoekstra attended the ground-breaking ceremony, he told The View, “out of respect for the office of president.”
The respect was not returned. "Some made the political calculation that it's better to obstruct than to lend a hand,” sneered Obama at the end of his remarks. “Now that doesn't stop them from being at ribbon cuttings, but that's OK."
And then the president jumped in his 10 mpg Caddy limo and headed to the next stop on his tour to transform what Americans drive.