| Advertisement |
EVERETT, Wash., Feb. 17 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama Friday toured Boeing's Everett, Wash., manufacturing plant, touting the strength of the American worker. "Air Force One was built right here in Everett 25 years ago. So I get to see your handiwork in action every day," Obama told assembled workers after he learned about four stages of the 787 Dreamliner's assembly -- fuselage integration, landing gear installation, interiors installation and the completed plane.
Advertisement
"The Dreamliner really is the plane of the future," Obama said.
Obama used the appearance to push his 2013 budget proposals he said will help expand the economy "based on American manufacturing and the importance of promoting American exports."
Obama lauded Boeing for keeping production in the United States, noting the flight of other manufacturing facilities overseas has been "incredibly painful" for millions of Americans and their communities.
"Too many jobs that provided a decent living have been shipped overseas. And the hard truth is, a lot of those jobs aren't coming back. In a global economy, some companies will always find it more profitable to pick up and do business in other parts of the world," Obama said.
"But that doesn't mean we have to sit by and settle for a lesser future. I don't accept that idea. In America, there's always something we can do to create new jobs and new manufacturing and new security for the middle class."
Obama pledged the United States "will not go back to an economy that was weakened by outsourcing, bad debt and phony financial profits." He took the opportunity to plug changes in the tax code that will encourage companies to open manufacturing facilities within the United States.
"So if we want an economy that's built to last, we have to do everything we can to strengthen American manufacturing, and make it easier for companies like Boeing to create jobs at home and sell their products abroad," he said. "We have to keep investing in American-made energy, and new skills for American workers. And above all, we have to renew the values that have always made this country great: Hard work. Fair play. Shared responsibility.
"These aren't Democratic or Republican values. They're American values. They've seen us through some tough challenges, and helped us emerge stronger than before."
The aerospace giant "is doing a lot of business overseas," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Thursday.
"That's very good for Boeing -- it's very good for American manufacturing, American exports," Carney said. "And the president will certainly highlight that."
Boeing was the focus of a politically charged National Labor Relations Board complaint by the machinists' union last year, claiming the company's decision to build a $750 million plant in South Carolina constituted illegal retaliation against Washington state machinists for exercising their right to strike.
The NLRB decision to ask Boeing to move the production line to Washington state was denounced by South Carolina officials and Republican presidential hopefuls, who said the board had no authority to tell companies where to build plants.
Obama said he didn't influence the NLRB's action but added Boeing's initial decision defied common sense.
The union dropped the lawsuit after Boeing agreed to locate the manufacturing work at its plant in Renton, Wash., a decision GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney blamed on pro-union Obama "stooges" on the NLRB.
On Nov. 30, 2011, after decades of bitter relations, Boeing and the machinists' union announced a far-reaching four-year contract extension that would raise wages, improve pensions and add thousands of assembly jobs in Washington state to build an updated version of its 737 jet, the best-selling jet airliner in aviation history.
Some observers said they saw a bit of gloating in Obama's visit to the unionized Everett plant.
"It is a victory lap [for Obama] in the sense that a voluntary settlement was reached," Clark University industrial relations Professor Gary Chaison told The Washington Times.
"The Boeing plant is of tremendous symbolic importance," Chaison said. "He's more or less saying, 'It's OK, it's a good deal."
Air Force One, the plane carrying the president, is a specifically configured, highly customized Boeing 747.
