Obama savors escape, but gets little respite from ills

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Breitbart:

President Barack Obama wrapped up a battleground state bus tour Wednesday with more free-swinging jibes at obstinate lawmakers, but headed back to Washington no closer to passing major jobs measures.
Obama, in his million-dollar black Secret Service armored bus, spent three days rolling through mountain valleys and along country roads in North Carolina and Virginia, a traditionally Republican patch he won in the 2008 election.

Along the way, he hardened his already caustic tone towards his Republican foes, shopped for pumpkins, told starstruck schoolgirls he knew teen heartthrob Justin Bieber and even had his well-travelled teleprompter nabbed by thieves.

"Thank you so much, Lord have mercy, You made my day," said daycare owner Patricia Feggins-Clary as she threw her arms around Obama, and proved the president retains at least some campaign trail stardust, in Virginia.

On the trail, Obama was relaxed, bouncy and cheerful, seemingly happy to be mixing with the people and free from Washington where a siege mentality prevails between warring Democrats and Republicans.

But every mile he traveled, he was shadowed by the reality of his own diminished political plight, 13 months before he asks voters for a second term.

The magnitude of Obama's task in convincing swing state voters that despite a jobs crisis with unemployment at 9.1 percent, he deserves to stay in the White House, was reflected throughout the 600 miles (1000 kilometers) trip.

"We Believed, We Voted. Now What?" said a sign held up by a woman by the roadside in North Carolina, encapsulating doubts over Obama's capacity to reconcile huge expectations for his presidency with grim realities.

In South Boston, Virginia, three men stood on a truck, holding signs that read "Job?" and "liar."
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