Obama reaching out in Ohio town hall

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Steve Chiotakis: President Obama’s agenda is being threatened in the Senate these days. Its newest member elected in Massachusetts this week is likely to derail a lot of his proposals. So he’s using his bully pulpit to show the American people he understands their plight. Namely, unemployment. Today, he’s at a town-hall style event at a community college in Lorain County, Ohio. From station WCPN, Dan Bobkoff reports.

Dan Bobkoff: The trip is part of the President’s so-called “White House to Main Street” tour, and he picked a good backdrop.

Lorain’s industrial glory days building ships and making steel ended decades ago. Now, its main streets are quiet and the unemployment rate looks like the rest of the country at about 10 percent. Just last week, Lorain County leaders eliminated nearly all public bus routes.

But with a Republican upset in the Massachusetts senate race casting doubt on some of Mr. Obama’s major policy plans, Michael Parkin of Oberlin College says this trip might be coming at an opportune time for the president.

MIchael Parkin: The victory in Massachusetts by the Republican candidate should really remind Obama to go back to his campaign message, to not lose sight of what made him so popular during the campaign, which is this idea that he has of wanting to connect with people, to listen to people. And I think this tour is a good representation of that.

Parkin says Lorain residents want more than an uplifting speech. They’ll be listening for specifics on training and job creation.

In Cleveland, I’m Dan Bobkoff for Marketplace.