Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama Monday pledged universal high-speed Internet access and doubling the national research and development budget in a speech at Kettering University in Flint.
"At a time when technology is shaping our future, we devote a smalle rand smaller share of our national resources to research and development," the Illinois senator said. "I'll double federal funding for basic research and make the R&D tax credit permanent. We can ensure that the discoveries of the 21st century happen in America -- in our labs and universities; at places like Kettering and the University of Michigan; Wayne State and Michigan State."
The proposals found a receptive audience in Joe Heston, a 23-year-old Kettering senior who said he tends to vote Republican.
"I like his ideas, especially on the economy and education," said Heston, from Monterey, Calif., who attended Obama's speech. "I'm going to take a long look in this election."
Obama, making his third campaign swing through Michigan since mid-May, said Monday he wants to move America to a place where workers can compete in a global economy.
"Not only is it impossible to turn back the tide of globalization, but efforts to do so can make us worse off," Obama told the crowd of more than 1,000. But he said America's trade policies must be "strong and smart." He criticized a Korean trade deal that "allows South Korea to import hundreds of thousands of cars into the U.S., but continues to restrict U.S. car exports into South Korea to a few thousand."
The audience cheered loudly when Obama talked of his plans for universal health insurance, grants for students to attend college and more support for research and development.
"I know as well that more than anything else, success will depend not on our government, but on the dynamism, determination and innovation of the American people," Obama said, giving a decidedly local twist to his remarks. "Here in Flint, it was the private sector that helped turn lumber into the wagons that sent this country west; that built the tanks that faced down fascism; and that turned out the automobiles that were the cornerstone of America's manufacturing boom.
"But at critical moments of transition like this one, success has also depended on national leadership that moved the country forward with confidence and a common purpose."
Obama's message about putting in place policies that would help Americans cope with high prices for gasoline, food and education was especially well-suited for Flint, where the metropolitan area had a seasonally unadjusted April unemployment rate of 9.3 percent.
It also was expected to resonate well when he spoke Monday evening in Detroit, where the April area unemployment rate was 6.9 percent, the same rate as the state's seasonally adjusted rate. Michigan has had the nation's highest unemployment rate in recent years.
Michael McGonegal, an industrial products sales representative from Brighton who attended the Flint speech, said he thinks Obama is reaching voters with his comments on the importance of leveling the economic playing field.
"It's like Monopoly. If you get all the money in Park Place and Boardwalk, you have to close up the board and go home," the 59-year-old said. "Right here in Flint is where the middle class started. ... (But) the middle class is evaporating."
As for the Internet, Obama said: "It is unacceptable that here, in the country that invented the Internet, we fell to 15th in the world in broadband deployment. When kids in downtown Flint or rural Iowa can't afford or access high-speed Internet, that sets back America's ability to compete. As president, I will set a simple goal: every American should have the highest speed broadband access -- no matter where you life, or how much money you have. We'll connect schools, libraries and hospitals. And we'll take on special interests to unleash the power of wireless spectrum for our safety and connectivity."
Obama also proposed making "energy security a leading priority. My energy plan will invest $150 billion over the next 10 years to establish a green energy sector that will create up to five million jobs over the next two decades."
Obama said he realized his programs are financially ambitious, but said "the answer to our fiscal problems is not to continue to short-change investments in education, energy, innovation and infrastructure, investments that are vital to long term growth." He said other spending could be cut, including ending the Iraq war, eliminating existing government waste, "charging polluters for the greenhouse gases they are sending into our atmosphere," and ending "the reckless, speical interest driven corporate loopholes and tax cuts for the wealthy" of the Bush administration.
Obama repeated many of the same themes in a speech Monday night before what looked on TV like a capacity crowd at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, where he also received the endorsement of former Vice President Al Gore.
Obama said he'd use technology to improve the quality and cut the cost of health care, "and not 20 years from now or 10 years from now but by the end of my first term."
He also said he was frustrated by inaction on energy issues dating back to the 1970s, back when, he said, people first acknowledged the "unsustainability" of American energy profligacy.
"We need a fundamentally new way to think about energy in this country and Al Gore has pointed the way," Obama said, pledging more wind, solar and biodiesel development under his administration. And he said "we're gonna build the cars of tomorrow, right here, plug-in hybrids, right in Detroit." And he pledged to universal broadband and a universal $4,000-a-year college education tax credit in exchange for community service.
More about Obama's Joe Louis Arena speech from the Associated Press.
More on Obama's Flint speech from the AP.
Obama's speech in Flint: Part One, Part Two.
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