Obama pledges to fight for jobs

CLEVELAND, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama, addressing a crowd in Elyria, Ohio, vowed Friday to fight for jobs, health coverage and greater accountability from Wall Street.

"Let me tell you – so long as I have the privilege of serving as your president, I'll never stop fighting for you. I'll take my lumps, too," Obama told an audience at Lorain County Community College in the Cleveland suburb. "I'll never stop fighting for an economy where hard work is rewarded, where responsibility is honored, where accountability is upheld, where we're creating the jobs of tomorrow."

Obama visited Lorain County, hard hit by the recession, as part of his "White House to Main Street" effort to visit struggling areas of the country.

"I walked into office a year ago in the middle of a raging economic storm that was wreaking devastation on your town and communities everywhere," Obama said. " We had to take some difficult steps to deal with that mess, to stave off an even greater economic catastrophe. We had to stabilize the big banks, which, given their role in creating this mess, was a tough pill to swallow."

He reviewed what the administration has done to help pull the U.S. economy out of the doldrums, including passage of the stimulus package, extended jobless benefits to help the unemployed, and worked to address the high costs of education and healthcare.

"I didn't run for President to turn away from these challenges," Obama said. "I ran for President to confront them -- once and for all."

Obama said he had "no illusions" when he tackled healthcare.

"I took this up because I want to ease the burdens on all the families and small businesses that can't afford to pay outrageous rates," he said. "I want to protect mothers, fathers, children from being targeted by the worst practices of the insurance industry."

Sounding like a circuit preacher, Obama rhythmically vowed he'd "never stop fighting" for policies to increase home values, raise wages equitably for men and women, protecting the public against the "kind of deceptive practices" in the financial sector, open up government, insurance reform and cut waste and abuse.

"And I can promise you, there will be more fights in the days ahead," Obama said.