WASHINGTON — Battling a new low in approval ratings, President Obama yesterday jetted to Ohio to celebrate the groundbreaking of the 10,000th road project paid for by the government’s massive stimulus act and tout a “recovery summer.”
“As my friend Joe Biden would say, this is a big . . . deal,” said Obama in a cheeky reference to the vice president’s F-bomb — caught by a live microphone — when the Democratic health-care bill was signed earlier this year.
“These projects haven’t just improved communities, they’ve put thousands of construction crews just like this one to work,” Obama boasted. “They’ve spurred countless small businesses to hire.”
Still, flanked by workers in hardhats in Columbus, the president acknowledged that times continue to be tough.
“There are still too many people here in Ohio and across the country who can’t find work. Many more can’t make ends meet,” he said. “And for these folks, the only jobs we create that matter are the ones that provide for their families. So while the recovery may start with projects like this, it can’t end here.”
Obama’s visit to the swing state came on a day when his approval rating hit a new low of 41 percent in the latest Rasmussen tracking survey, as he battles fallout from the flailing economy and the steady Gulf oil crisis.
Yesterday, he was kicking off a six-week “recovery summer” campaign to tout the stimulus.