WASHINGTON (AP/WMOT) — President Barack Obama is following up Tuesday night’s State of the Union speech with three days of appearances designed to rally support for the job-creation measures outlined in his message.
The President is in Asheville, N.C., Wednesday visiting an auto parts plant. He'll make stops in Atlanta Thursday and Chicago on Friday.
In his speech, Obama called job creation his "North Star." He asked Congress to focus on attracting jobs to the U.S., training American workers and boosting investments in infrastructure, manufacturing and clean energy.
Brandon Puttbrese, a spokesman for the Tennessee Democratic Party, says the type of business-government partnerships the president is promoting for the nation have already proved successful here in Tennessee.
“You can go all the way back to Nissan coming here under Governor Alexander, and more recently Volkswagen down in Chattanooga.”
Tennessee GOP spokesman Brent Leatherwood says Republicans see it differently, saying more government programs are not the answer.
“Our bloated budget are weighing us down. We need to go in a different direction. That’s what I thought Americans wanted to hear last night and we just didn’t receive any of that.”
President Obama also announced Tuesday night he wants to raise the minimum hourly wage from the current $7.25 to $9 by the end of 2015.