Obama to kick off tour in Allentown, PA

[HopeOverFear]

After an economic summit Thursday in Washington, D.C., President Barack Obama's visit to Allentown on Friday will kickoff a months-long tour one political analyst says is meant to signal concern about the economy in advance of next year's mid-term congressional elections.

Allentown is the perfect setting because of its reputation, said Chris Borick, Ph.D., who runs the polling institute at Muhlenberg College in Allentown.

"The Lehigh Valley, a lot like the Wyoming Valley, has some nice, what I would consider, street credibility as a hard-working, blue-collar place that is recognizable," Dr. Borick said. "If you say Allentown, like if you said Scranton, in most parts of the country (people think) that's a no-nonsense ... representative of any hard-working American city."

Mr. Obama will speak to students, teachers, business owners and others at Lehigh Carbon Community College late in the morning.

The administration is billing it as a "White House to Main Street tour."

"In an effort to spend some time out of Washington and talk to Americans about what they are experiencing during this challenging economic recovery, the president will spend the day in cities and towns across the country regularly over the next several months," the White House said in a press release.

White House spokeswoman Moira Mack said Mr. Obama "will take what he hears from Americans on the White House to Main Street tour back to his economic advisers who are hard at work exploring options for working to get the economy moving."

With unemployment nationwide at levels unseen in two decades, polls show economic concerns top the list of voter concerns.

"It's his way of symbolically expressing his focus on the economy in 2010," Dr. Borick said of the president's tour. "That's going to be the front-and-center issue for him. If this year was about health care, next year is going to be all about the economy. ... It's going to be essential for him as they move into an election year when that's the issue that's on everybody's mind."

[Cha]

1. Thank you, Hope

Not as many people see it in here but you don't have people jumping on just bc they hate the President, either.

[NYC Liberal]

2. Thanks for posting!

I'm definitely looking forward to this.

:hi: