WORLD> America
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WORLD> America
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US Cabinet officials head to hard-hit auto states
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-03 19:27 Still, those tend to be balanced out by areas where the auto states aren't getting as much, leaving them with only average amounts from the recovery dollars distributed so far. That has led some to criticize the four-day tour as just a feel-good attempt by the White House to control the bankruptcy backlash in areas that could be critical to Obama's re-election chances in 2012. Obama won all four states last year but Indiana generally votes Republican and the other three usually are toss-ups. As a PR move, the visit by Obama officials "is not going to make things a whole lot better," said Bob Kolt of Kolt Communications, a Michigan media specialist who also teaches media relations at Michigan State University. "(It's) nice that they're coming in to smile to say that they're here," he added. "But we need money now." A spokeswoman for Vice President Joe Biden, who's overseeing the recovery efforts, defended the tour, saying Tuesday that the amount each state gets in both formula and discretionary funds is changing day by day. "There have been a lot of discretionary funds that have gone specifically to auto communities ... that go above and beyond a lot of the formula funds," said Elizabeth Oxhorn. "You may actually find that some of these auto states are actually ahead of the game." Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm doesn't believe the visits are just for show. The day before she toured the GM plant with Montgomery and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, she said she has seen a genuine desire by White House officials to help her state. "I think the Obama administration is committed to following through on the suggestions that people are making to these cabinet secretaries," she said. The current administration is more sympathetic to the situation in auto industry states than the Bush administration was, said economist Patrick Anderson of Anderson Economic Group in East Lansing. But, he said, the cabinet secretaries need to use their visits to learn how they can help the troubled industry and communities rather than merely express sympathy. "The only way out of this is something that restores the confidence of consumers, and that is not going to occur by easy comments of politicians," Anderson said. "People here need jobs, and they can't eat political sympathy."
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