Three years after President
Barack Obama campaigned at
a Falls Township, Bucks
County wind turbine plant he
returned April 6 for a town
hall meeting.
Obama, who recently
announced he is running for
re-election, spoke to the audi-
ence about his p la n for energy
i ndepend e nce , tal ked a bou t
the need for m ore funding for
e ducat io n, warned of the
e ffect s of a a go v e r nment
shutdown and also spoke of
jobs.
” What you do here i s a
glimpse of the fu ture. It’s a
future where Ame rica is l ess
depend en t on fo r e ig n o il,”
O bama s ai d to the workers at
th e Gamesa wi nd tu r bi ne
pl an t. Th e Span is h-bas e d
company employee s 80 0 peo –
p le i n Pen nsy lv a n ia, mo st
being at the Falls township
f actory and a smaller number
at its n earb y Mid dl e to wn
office s.
Gamesa was chosen by th e
White House to discuss th e
p resid e nt’s pl a n to increas e
the use of w ind and solar as
alternatives to foreign oi l.
Gamesa emplo yee and large
SUV owner Je rry “Ja zz” Holt,
who has 1 0 ch ildren and
makes an hour an d a quarter
commute to work, a sked about
the nat ion’s gas p ri c es and
how they could b e lowere d.
“There’s not much we can
do next week, or two week s
from n ow,” Obama said.
“What we can do for n ow is
increase oil production in the
United States.”
“If you’re complaining
about the price of gas and
you’re only getting 8 miles a
gallon, you know,” Obama
said laughingly, “you might
want to think about a tradein.”
The president said we need
ed cars that are more fuel efficient
and do not run on gasoline.
Recently the president said
the United States in the next
15 years should reduce oil
imports by one third and
increase use of alternative
energy.
Local Tea Party members
gathered outside the industrial
complex, which was the former
home to U.S. Steel, to
protest. The Tea Party members
held signs. Their message
was clear, “Drill More, Spend
Less.”
Inside the large warehouse
the president said the country
doesn’t have enough oil to
drill its way to energy independence.
Obama said if a politician
said change will happen
overnight, “they’re not telling
the truth.”
President Obama said the
U.S. needs to “out-innovate
the world” and said the
Gamesa facility is a good
start.
“I want us to be the best,”
Obama stressed. “That’s how
we’ll win the future.”
“We used to have the best
education system in the world.
We used to have the No. 1 percentage
of college graduates
in the world,” Obama told the
crowd. “We don’t anymore.”
He talked about increasing
funding to schools and making
changes to make
Americans more competitive
compared to students in other
nations.
Obama talked about how
community colleges needed
more funding and said that
Bucks County Community
College can be a “pipeline for
new workers.”
Former Democratic congressman
Patrick Murphy, a
supporter of Gamesa and
green energy jobs in the
region, attended the event.
Murphy had visited the plant
many times and was behind a
green jobs program that
helped veterans get training at
Bucks County Community
College and then work at the
Gamesa facility.
The president also touched
on the possible federal government
shutdown that could
have happened if a budget
deal was not passed.
He urged lawmakers to “act
like adults.”
Obama also
told the audience
that
N a t i o n a l
Parks would
close, IRS
refund checks
would not get
p r o c e s s e d
and named
more government
services
that would be
affected by a
shutdown.
P r e s i d e n t
Obama said
that America’s infrastructure
used to be the best in the
world but in recent years is
has crumbled and the country
needs to improve its roads and
bridges.
During the speech Obama
talked about the nation’s
improving job marketplace
and said that Genral Motors is
planning to hire back all of the
workers it laid-off during the
height of the recession.
The president after the town
hall meeting shook hands with
members of the audience,
which Gamesa officials said
was nearly 500 people strong.
Once the president left and
the roar of Marine One had
faded, Jerry “Jazz” Holt, who
asked the president the question
about gas prices, said he
felt President Obama
answered he question sufficiently.
He added, “with gas
prices where they are now it’s
hard, for everybody.”
Another man, a resident of
Lower Southampton, asked
not to be named but said,
“Obama hit a lot of hot topic
issues, but he didn’t offer anything
new. He sounded more
like a candidate making promises
than a president.”
After the crowd cleared the
room and workers began to
break down the stage, Plant
Manager Alfred Richter said
that work on the wind turbines
resumes “right now.”