Obama Vows To Fight For Jobs, Health Reform

22 January 2010

President Barack Obama visits the Riddell manufacturing facility, which makes sports equipment, Friday, Jan. 22, 2010, in Elyria, Ohio, as part of his "White House to Main Street Tour".

U.S. President Barack Obama says he will not stop fighting to create jobs, reform health care or clean up the financial industry. The president took his populist appeal to the recession-battered central state of Ohio Friday.

President Obama's energetic speech at a community college near Cleveland took on the appearance of a campaign rally.

The president told the crowd at a public forum his recent political setbacks will not stop him from moving forward on his agenda. I will not stop fighting for you. I will take my lumps, but I will not stop fighting to bring back jobs here. I will not stop fighting for an economy where hard work is rewarded," he said.

In an area where manufacturing jobs have disappeared and the unemployment rate has risen above the national average, Mr. Obama called on Congress to pass a new job-creation bill.

The president acknowledged Tuesday's election of a Republican senator in Massachusetts, which gives the opposition party enough votes to block health care reform and other Democratic priorities.

But he said he is not giving up on fixing health care, and that he did not tackle the issue to boost his political standing. "I am trying to solve the problems that folks here in Ohio and across this country face every day. And I am not going to walk away just because it is hard. We are going to keep on working to get this done, with Democrats, I hope with Republicans, anybody who is willing to step up," he said.