President Obama made Asheville the first stop of a three-day trip to push economic proposals he made in his State of the Union address this week. The president got a tour yesterday of the Linamar machine parts plant before making some remarks. Canada-based Linamar moved to Asheville after a Volvo plant left taking hundreds of jobs with it. The president says he'd like to see the federal government help make Linamar's example more common in cities that have been hit hard economically.
"While they could have gone anyplace in the world, they saw this incredible potential right here in Asheville," the president said . "They saw the most promise in this workforce. So they chose to invest in Asheville..in North Carolina..in the United States of America."
Plant workers also applauded President Obama's proposal to raise the federal minimum wage and create opportunities for workers to re-train themselves for new jobs. The president's tour will take him to Atlanta on Thursday and Chicago on Friday.