On target
For whatever reason, many Fayette County residents have never taken a liking to President Barack Obama.
It’s strange because Fayette County has been a Democratic Party stronghold since the days of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the early 1930s. However, back in 2008 Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate to lose Fayette County since George McGovern was topped here by Richard Nixon in 1972. In 2008, Republican John McCain topped Obama by 215 votes in Fayette County, winning by .04 percent.
That margin grew to 4,004 votes in 2012 as Republican presidential candidate George Romney beat Obama by 8 percentage points in Fayette County.
Still, Obama seemed to have Fayette County in the back of his mind this past week when he visited the West Hills Center of the Community College of Allegheny County to outline his plan to expand technical job training and apprenticeship programs throughout the country.
Over the years, particularly with the Marcellus shale industry, there has been talk of local workers needing to get trained for new jobs that are coming our way. Many business owners have complained that they’d like to hire local workers, but they lack the training necessary to do the new jobs that are vital to today’s manufacturing industries.
So, Obama’s plan could definitely help Fayette County residents looking to get the training crucial to obtain those new jobs.
In his address, Obama praised CCAC’s curriculum and training as something that the rest of the United States should be emulating.
He pointed out that CCAC has utilized both machines and motors to train students on-site in the arts of mechatronics, which has to do with building and repairing complex machinery.
He added that CCAC was training “new workers for new jobs and better jobs.”
Obama promised to allocate $500 million to schools like CCAC that are producing job-ready students with readily applicable skills.
The president noted that the programs, which will refocus funds already in the federal budget pipeline, did not depend on new action by Congress.
In addition, the president proclaimed a $100 million competition known as the American Apprenticeship Grant, which would allow apprentices and skilled workers to come together for training and job advancement.
It’s estimated that 87 percent of the people who go through apprenticeship programs end up with jobs.
As expected, Republican congressional leaders were less than thrilled with the proposal.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the president could better serve workers by persuading a Democratic Senate to pass the Skills Act, a jobs measure supported by House Republicans, which would eliminate and streamline 35 programs and create a Workforce Investment Fund to serve as a single source of support for workers, employers and job seekers.
While that sounds promising, so does Obama’s attempt to turn around the economy, especially in places like Fayette County, through job-training programs.
Local workers and businesses should try and get behind the president on this issue. It certainly can’t hurt, and it could end up lowering Fayette County’s 7.5 percent unemployment rate, which is the 58th highest among the state’s 67 counties.
If Obama’s proposal succeeds, local residents might end up liking the president more than they ever thought possible.