Obama Chides Stimulus Critics
President Barack Obama used the backdrop of Ohio's struggling Mahoning Valley Tuesday to lay out one of his strongest attacks on Republican critics of his economic policies, accusing them of "rooting for failure" and hindering the nation's recovery.</br></br>He also proposed a trust fund of more than $800 million to pay for the cleanup of nearly 90 shuttered General Motors sites in 14 states.</br></br>"If the just-say-no crowd had won out--if we had done things that way--we'd be in a deeper world of hurt," he told workers at the V&M Star steel plant in Youngstown. "The steady progress we are beginning to see across America just wouldn't exist. ... So I invite anyone who thinks we shouldn't have taken those actions or made those investments to come to places like this and tell us why."</br></br>Mr. Obama's trip to Ohio was the latest in an almost weekly effort to talk up the economic recovery outside of Washington. But this speech was notable for its sharp tone and its location, just over the border from Pennsylvania, where Sen. Arlen Specter could face defeat in Tuesday's Democratic primary, despite the president's support.</br></br>The president declined to make a last-ditch appearance in Pennsylvania to rally Democratic voters to Sen. Specter, who left the Republican Party in the face of a GOP backlash for his vote in favor of the Obama stimulus plan. Instead, the president laid out the economic argument he is likely to make a mainstay of the midterm election season.