Obama praises pledge to hire veterans
President Obama looks on, left, as First Lady Michelle Obama speaks to the crowd gathered at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Va.(Oct. 19, 2011). Credit: AP Photo/Stephanie Oberlander
NORTH CHESTERFIELD, Va. -- Heralding a splash of good news on jobs, President Barack Obama yesterday praised companies that have promised to hire 25,000 veterans or military spouses within two years, calling it a sign of patriotism and business savvy.
He pushed his economic agenda anew to a military audience and to firefighters, with first lady Michelle Obama at his side for one of his stops.
"We ask you to fight, to sacrifice, to risk your lives for your country," Obama told an audience of thousands of people at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia. "The last thing you should have to do is fight for a job when you come home. Not here. Not in the United States of America."
In the military setting, Obama's pitch for his jobs bill was far less partisan than it has been across his bus tour of North Carolina and Virginia. He didn't target at length the Republicans who have voted against his plan, promising more broadly to keep pushing Congress to pass a bill that's now broken into pieces.
The president's daylong swing through Virginia does, however, have deep political undertones. Obama won the GOP-leaning state in 2008, but his poll numbers here are down, and some of the state's high-profile Democrats are staying away from the president's events.
The final day of Obama's bus tour had a different feel primarily because the Obamas were together as the president campaigned. The Obamas made a surprise stop at a roadside pumpkin patch. Then they stopped for lunch with four veterans from different parts of the nation.
The hiring pledge came from the American Logistics Association, which includes firms like Tyson Foods and Coca-Cola. -- AP
