Obama Appeals for Union Support – Especially for his Health Care Plans.

After a tough few weeks President Barack Obama took his healthcare message to a group of men and women who essentially became his employees a few months ago – workers at a General Motors plant in Lordstown , Ohio – and was buoyed by the fact that amongst the blue collar workers there he seemed to find praise and support, and not only just for his health care reforms.

The president’s visit to the Lordstown plant – which primarily manufactures small cars in the GM fleet – was his first to a General Motors facility since he and his government took defacto control of the company as a part of the auto industry bailout earlier this year.

This is a plant that has been doing very well of late. The Cash for Clunkers plan depleted the GM inventory of smaller vehicles and just a day before the President’s arrival 150 laid off workers had returned to work, with a 1,000 more due to clock back in over the next three weeks, to help meet the demand, including getting ready for the launch of the Chevy Cruze, a compact, high mileage vehicle due to be launched next year.

Amid thunderous applause, the President once again made it clear it had never been his intention to end up running a car company as part of his duties as Commander –in –chief "It wasn't on my to-do list. It wasn't even something on my want-to-do list.” he said. However he continued “for me to just let the auto industry collapse, to vanish, would have done unbelievable damage."

But during his speech at Lordstown and another later in the day at an AFL-CIO union convention in Pittsburgh, the President admitted he did need something from the auto workers now in return for his actions to help save their ailing industry and their jobs ; their support for his agenda, especially his health care reform plans.

Sounding far more like the confident man who rallied crowds behind him during the 2008 elections Barack Obama told the union workers assembled in Pittsburgh "As long as you've got an ounce of fight in you, I've got a ton of fight in me. I’ve said it before: I'm skinny, but I'm tough. So give it for me, guys."

And they do seem willing. According to John Sweeney, who is the outgoing president of the AFL-CIO "We in this room are the wind at his back."