MANITOWOC, Wis. — President Barack Obama took his State of the Union message on the road Wednesday in a state he won easily in 2008 but one that shifted sharply to the GOP in the 2010 elections.
“In this new and challenging time, when America is facing tougher competition from countries around the world than ever before, we’ve got to up our game,” he said at Orion Energy Systems, a high-efficiency-lighting company. “We’re going to need to go all in. We’re going to need to get serious about winning the future.”
Obama’s stop was the first of three he made in the town of about 34,000.
The firms Obama visited illustrate the kind of economic development he called for Tuesday. Orion works with companies to reduce energy costs. Also visited were Tower Tech Systems, which makes wind- turbine towers, and Skana Aluminum, an aluminum manufacturer and rolling mill.
“These aren’t just good jobs that can help you pay the bills and support your families,” the president said of Orion as he spoke to more than 200 people. “They’re jobs that are good for all of us, that will make our energy bills cheaper, that will make our planet safer, that will sharpen America’s competitive edge in the world.”
Administration officials said the trip was the first of many stops Obama is planning over the next month to urge the public to push Congress to adopt his ideas.
Presidents often take campaign-style trips after a State of the Union address. But Obama’s trip had another purpose.
He won Wisconsin by 14 percentage points in the 2008 election. But Republicans won control of the state legislature, the governorship, two U.S. House seats and a U.S. Senate seat in November.
Obama seemed to find one issue that unifies everyone in Wisconsin: the Green Bay Packers, who defeated Obama’s favorite NFL team, the Chicago Bears, on Sunday to advance to the Super Bowl.
After Air Force One landed in Wisconsin, Green Bay’s mayor and the governor presented Obama with Packers jerseys.
“Let me start by saying something: I am not here because I lost a bet,” he said. “I just want to be clear about that. I have already gotten three Green Bay jerseys. I’ve only been on the ground for an hour.”
