SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -- If there were any doubt before, Barack Obama wants to serve two terms as president. And, please, don't mind that buzzing on his hip, he only has good intentions.
The Illinois senator and Democratic presidential candidate made a stop at the Sunrise Cafe here Thursday morning and sat down with a glass of orange juice to talk about jobs with three Hoosiers who have experienced the vicissitudes of the economy.
Obama pitched his plan for using alternative energy industries to reconfigure old manufacturing jobs and plants and called for better retraining of workers left jobless by plants that move overseas.
"I'm not guaranteeing that we can turn this around overnight," he cautioned.
His campaign-selected tablemates agreed.
"I hope people realize that because of the damage that has been done, it's going to take more than one term to even start to turn it around," said Trudy Manderfeld, a 60-year-old former pharmaceutical company worker from Shipshewana, Ind.
"Yeah, exactly," Obama said. "Well, I'm looking for two," Obama said with a chuckle.
"Are ya?" Manderfeld asked.
"But I'm going to start on that first one," Obama replied.
Later, as two cafe waitresses and owner Brenda Wilson squeezed next to him for a photograph, Obama suddenly turned to one woman. "That's my phone buzzing there," he said. "I don't want you to think I'm getting fresh or anything."
---
Compiled by Jim Kuhnhenn
© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.
Email This
Larger Font
Print This
Smaller Font
