Midwest bus tour puts Obama in touch with rural leaders and voters
August 17, 2011 | 06:32 PM
By JERRY HAGSTROM
President Barack Obama’s three-day Midwestern bus tour, which concludes today in Illinois, has given him an opportunity to invite farm and rural leaders who are likely to help him get re-elected to a White House-sponsored event. It has also given him a chance to hear directly about those issues that rural Americans say the administration has not handled very well and could pose problems in convincing them to vote for him in 2012.
According to press pool reports written by local and national journalists and distributed by the White House, the participants in the White House Rural Economic Forum at a community college in Peosta, Iowa, on Tuesday included:
Tom Buis of Growth Energy, the ethanol group, and a former president of the National Farmers Union, was also present, a Growth Energy official said.
All these groups represent smaller farmers, minority farmers and other rural Americans who are more likely to vote Democratic than Republican. The White House said that 125 rural leaders had been invited to the forum and that 26 states were represented. A group of FFA (formerly Future Farmers of America) students was also invited to attend.
Obama did better in rural America in 2008 than any Democratic presidential candidate since Bill Clinton. That was because Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the Republican candidate, had opposed both the farm bill and ethanol and because the Obama campaign focused more on rural America than most Democratic candidates have.
In 2010, many conservative Democrats from rural America, known as Blue Dogs, lost their elections as rural Americans voted for Tea Party Republicans. While many of these voters were upset with the healthcare reform act and other legislation that the Democrats passed, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn., noted that when times are good, rural Americans switch their attention from the programs that Democrats establish to protect farmers to the regulations they dislike, and they often vote Republican. The question for Obama in 2012 is whether he can recapture the rural votes that he got in 2008.
The Tuesday forum consisted of opening and closing events at which Obama delivered remarks, and five breakout sessions. Obama attended two of those sessions: “Growing Rural Small Business” with SBA Administrator Karen Mills and “Promoting Agricultural Innovation and Renewable Energy Jobs in Rural Communities” with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
The other sessions were:
Obama's remarks in all the sessions focused on policies the administration has also promoted, particularly innovation in biofuels and bringing high-speed Internet service to rural America. Administration officials announced programs to increase Small Business Administration lending in rural America and to spend $510 million on the development of advanced biofuels for marine and aviation use.
Obama stressed the importance of innovation in biofuels and his commitment to a strong safety for farmers, an issue on which he may be able to differentiate himself from some more free-market oriented Republicans.
“If we can harness homegrown fuels, whether it’s biofuels, wind, solar, geothermal, then I think it can generate hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country,” he said, as well as reduce dependency on foreign oil and diversifying farmers’ sources of income.
"When you look at farm economies, prices now are good, but given the volatility of world markets we need to figure out how we can use energy and conservation to enhance the core business of feeding people," he added.
Reacting to a statement in one session that farm subsidies should be capped, Obama repeated his position favoring the cap.
“I will tell you there was a candidate in 2008 — Barack Obama — who laid out a need for this cap,” Obama said. He added that Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, “may have pushed," but that the Agriculture committees would not agree to a proposal as strict as Grassley's.
"We continue to believe we need caps in place, it makes no sense,” Obama said, telling the group it should press to get the measure passed. “You are preaching to the choir,” he concluded.
Farm subsidy caps are not popular with the large farmers who produce most of the nation's food, but they are popular with small farmers who believe that the subsidies help the big farmers expand and compete unfairly for land.
According to the pool reports, Obama said he was there to listen as well as to speak. The breakout sessions offered farm and rural leaders a chance to tell the president directly what they have previously told Congress and other administration officials.
The participants also repeatedly said they believe regulation should be reduced.
President Barack Obama’s three-day Midwestern bus tour, which concludes today in Illinois, has given him an opportunity to invite farm and rural leaders who are likely to help him get re-elected to a White House-sponsored event. It has also given him a chance to hear directly about those issues that rural Americans say the administration has not handled very well and could pose problems in convincing them to vote for him in 2012.
According to press pool reports written by local and national journalists and distributed by the White House, the participants in the White House Rural Economic Forum at a community college in Peosta, Iowa, on Tuesday included:
- National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson
- Joel Greeno, a Wisconsin dairy farmer who is a member of the executive committee of the National Family Farm Coalition
- Chuck Hassebrook, executive director of the Center for Rural Affairs in Nebraska
- John Zippert, assistant secretary for the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, a Georgia-based group that works with black farmers
- David Gipp of the United Tribes Technical College in North Dakota.
Tom Buis of Growth Energy, the ethanol group, and a former president of the National Farmers Union, was also present, a Growth Energy official said.
All these groups represent smaller farmers, minority farmers and other rural Americans who are more likely to vote Democratic than Republican. The White House said that 125 rural leaders had been invited to the forum and that 26 states were represented. A group of FFA (formerly Future Farmers of America) students was also invited to attend.
Obama did better in rural America in 2008 than any Democratic presidential candidate since Bill Clinton. That was because Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the Republican candidate, had opposed both the farm bill and ethanol and because the Obama campaign focused more on rural America than most Democratic candidates have.
In 2010, many conservative Democrats from rural America, known as Blue Dogs, lost their elections as rural Americans voted for Tea Party Republicans. While many of these voters were upset with the healthcare reform act and other legislation that the Democrats passed, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn., noted that when times are good, rural Americans switch their attention from the programs that Democrats establish to protect farmers to the regulations they dislike, and they often vote Republican. The question for Obama in 2012 is whether he can recapture the rural votes that he got in 2008.
The Tuesday forum consisted of opening and closing events at which Obama delivered remarks, and five breakout sessions. Obama attended two of those sessions: “Growing Rural Small Business” with SBA Administrator Karen Mills and “Promoting Agricultural Innovation and Renewable Energy Jobs in Rural Communities” with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
The other sessions were:
- “Strengthening the Middle Class in Rural America” led by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Sean Donovan and Domestic Policy Council head Melody Barnes
- “Creating Jobs through Conservation, Outdoor Recreation and Tourism” led by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Council on Environmental Quality ChairmanNancy Sutley
- “Building Economic Opportunity for Rural Businesses through Infrastructure Investments” led by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
Obama's remarks in all the sessions focused on policies the administration has also promoted, particularly innovation in biofuels and bringing high-speed Internet service to rural America. Administration officials announced programs to increase Small Business Administration lending in rural America and to spend $510 million on the development of advanced biofuels for marine and aviation use.
Obama stressed the importance of innovation in biofuels and his commitment to a strong safety for farmers, an issue on which he may be able to differentiate himself from some more free-market oriented Republicans.
“If we can harness homegrown fuels, whether it’s biofuels, wind, solar, geothermal, then I think it can generate hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country,” he said, as well as reduce dependency on foreign oil and diversifying farmers’ sources of income.
"When you look at farm economies, prices now are good, but given the volatility of world markets we need to figure out how we can use energy and conservation to enhance the core business of feeding people," he added.
Reacting to a statement in one session that farm subsidies should be capped, Obama repeated his position favoring the cap.
“I will tell you there was a candidate in 2008 — Barack Obama — who laid out a need for this cap,” Obama said. He added that Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, “may have pushed," but that the Agriculture committees would not agree to a proposal as strict as Grassley's.
"We continue to believe we need caps in place, it makes no sense,” Obama said, telling the group it should press to get the measure passed. “You are preaching to the choir,” he concluded.
Farm subsidy caps are not popular with the large farmers who produce most of the nation's food, but they are popular with small farmers who believe that the subsidies help the big farmers expand and compete unfairly for land.
According to the pool reports, Obama said he was there to listen as well as to speak. The breakout sessions offered farm and rural leaders a chance to tell the president directly what they have previously told Congress and other administration officials.
The participants also repeatedly said they believe regulation should be reduced.
