It isn’t often that a trade press editorial type like yours truly get to see the president up close. Yet those were the circumstances recently when the Rodon Group invited me to sit among other media types at their injection molding plant in Hatfield, Pa., when President Obama stopped by to speak about the ongoing tax impasse in Washington.
The president, his white sleeves rolled up campaign style, spoke to a group of several hundred people, hammering home once again his position that tax increases for the “richest Americans” had to be part and parcel of a new economic plan moving forward. He recommended that those in attendance call their congressman to urge them to end the current stalemate, noting that if he and lawmakers do not reach a consensus by Jan.1 on what to do about taxes, federal income taxes on the middle class would be increased by about $2000/yr.
“I want you to call, I want you to send an email, post on their Facebook wall,” the president urged. “If you tweet, then use a hashtag we're calling ‘My2K.’ Not Y2K, ‘My2K.’ Because it’s about your ‘2K’ in your pocket. We’re trying to burn that into people’s minds here.”
While he had teleprompters on both sides of the podium, the president spoke with no prepared notes. He thanked the owners of the family-owned company, famous for inventing the K’NEX building block toys, for inviting him there to present his message, and commended them for their "made in America" message. The president arrived precisely on time, and spoke for about 30 minutes before an extremely friendly audience. He toured the plant before his talk.
Click here for a feature story we did on Rodon a few year back.
