Obama hits the road to sell his economic plan

BEDFORD HEIGHTS, Ohio -- President-elect Barack Obama strolled through a chilly Midwest parts factory Friday as he sought to warm the public to his $825 billion economic stimulus program.

Wearing clear protective glasses with his dark business suit, Obama stopped at several work stations on his Bedford Heights, Ohio, tour to watch people demonstrate the various steps to manufacturing the large screws and bolts used to hold wind turbines together.

It was a fitting backdrop to his plan to promote alternative energy dollars included in the mammoth spending package that could reach $1 trillion by the time Congress sends it to the White House.

Obama's campaign-style event is the first of several he's expected to hold in the coming weeks to generate support for his plan to pull the country from recession. His trip comes a day after the Senate approved giving him access to the second half of last fall's $700 billion financial industry bailout and after House Democrats unveiled a stimulus plan largely shaped by the president-elect's team.

Citing an economy in crisis and worsening, Obama has spent the past two weeks securing lawmakers' backing for the eye-popping plan that has drawn skepticism from both Republicans and Democrats because of its price tag and tax provisions. He's now taking his pitch directly to the public — and trying to sell the sweeping package to lawmakers' constituents.

The stakes are enormous for Obama. Passage of the plan, and bipartisan passage in particular, would mark a significant achievement at the outset of his presidency as he inherits a recession in its second year from President George W. Bush. Defeat would be a blow, coming not just in his first weeks in office but also as joblessness increases, bank failures continue, investment portfolios shrink and home prices drop.

Either way, the success or failure of the plan could well set the tone for his first 100 days in office, if not his first year or longer.

After nearly two weeks in Washington, Obama scheduled a meeting with workers at the Cardinal Fastener & Specialty Co. in Bedford Heights, Ohio, a Cleveland suburb, to explain how he believes such companies and their workers would benefit from his plan.