Several hundred gathered on the Carnegie Mellon Campus Friday under the hot sun to see President Barack Obama wrap up a two-day tour of Ohio and Pennsylvania, but dozens of them swooned even before the president took to the stage. Medical teams were handing out water to the sun-baked crowd, but there was a steady stream of supporters who were hitting the grass and being taken away in ambulances.
During the tour, Mr. Obama praised his administration for bailing out the auto industry, passing and successfully defending the Affordable Care Act and working to grow the middle class. He added a few extra thoughts on energy for his Pittsburgh crowd.
"We're producing more oil than we have in the last eight years. We're importing less but we can do so much more," said Mr. Obama. "We have to bet on not just an oil industry that's already profitable, we have to bet on a clean energy industry of solar and wind that can create jobs and help our environment."
U.S. Representative Tim Murphy (R-18) bashed the President's energy policies earlier in the week saying he is doing more to bankrupt coal companies than to develop clean coal technology.
The president continued to hit on the idea of betting on America throughout his Pittsburgh speech Friday.
"When some folks said, 'Let's let Detroit go bankrupt,' we said, 'No, we're betting on the American worker. We're betting on American industries,'" said Mr. Obama.
He went on to say he is betting on the youth. "So I want to hire new teachers, especially in science. I want to make college more affordable."
The president gave the CMU crowd a glimpse of his future budget priorities by reminding them that his administration has ended the war in Iraq and is winding down the war in Afghanistan.
"So let's take half of that money that we are saving on war and use it to pay down the deficit, and let's take the other half and use it to do some nation-building here at home," said Mr. Obama. "Let's put some Americans back to work rebuilding our roads and our bridges, our schools."
Barack Obama's visit to Pittsburgh came on the same day that it was announced that the U.S. economy added only 80,000 jobs in June. It was the third consecutive month of weak job growth.
Mitt Romney, the presumed Republican nominee, said the number shows that Mr. Obama, in three and a half years on the job, has not "gotten America working again."
"And the president is going to have to stand up and take responsibility for it," Romney said in Wolfeboro, N.H."This kick in the gut has got to end."
