Obama discusses jobs

President Obama placed a heavy emphasis on job creation and retention in California and nationally during a roughly one-hour speech with a question-and-answer session in Costa Mesa on Wednesday afternoon.

The town hall-style meeting in an exposition hall at the Orange County Fair & Event Center was his initial stop in a short trip to Southern California — his first since being elected president.

“It’s always good to get out of Washington for a little while and come to places like Costa Mesa,” Obama said, adding that the “climate is nicer, and so is the conversation.”

Highlighting California’s high unemployment rate, which is estimated to be more than 10%, and the state’s heavy exposure to the real estate development and lending industries, Obama touted projects supported by the federal government that create jobs.

He mentioned that adding a lane to the 91 Freeway in Orange County, for instance, creates 2,000 new jobs while easing traffic congestion.

The president began his speech by chiding insurance giant AIG for giving “lavish” bonuses to employees while accepting federal money, but told the crowd that the problem was only a symptom of a much more substantial issue.

“I know a lot of you are outraged about this. Rightfully so. I’m outraged too,” Obama said, adding that he didn’t create the mess, but wanted to “take responsibility for it.”

Underlying and causing the symptoms, however, is a wider culture of taking irresponsible risks to make money, Obama said.

The large, open building that was the venue of the much-anticipated visit was turned into an intimate setting, as the White House had said it was aiming to do. A couple of small sets of bleachers surrounded the stage on all sides, and rows of folding chairs were set up for the rest of the crowd, most of whom were seated within 50 yards of the president.

Many in attendance spent the night in the parking lot of the fairgrounds just for a chance to see Obama.

Questions posed to him by audience members selected at random dealt with everything from financial issues, to education, to immigration policy.

He repeated many of his campaign promises, including his pledge not to raise taxes on families making less than $250,000, his promise to cut the deficit in half during his first term and his proposal for comprehensive immigration reform.

“People who have been here a long time and laid roots here need to have some way to come out of the shadows,” Obama said, tying the issue back into the theme of the day — job creation — by saying that “underground economies” undercut Americans’ wages.

Those who came here illegally, though, should have to pay a fine, learn English and “go to the back of the line,” he continued.

His words on the subject, which is a perennially heated issue in Costa Mesa and the entire Southland, drew some of the loudest applause of the day. He also defended his policy of raising taxes on the top income brackets, saying that the extra money raised was essential for funding health-care reform.

“These folks can afford it,” Obama said.

The speech was generally well-received by the audience.

Costa Mesan Jeanie Ferris came to the town hall with a few of her children and her husband, Steve.

Jeanie and the kids wore homemade T-shirts with the Obama logo on them while Steve had a bright red elephant printed across the chest of his homemade, blue T-shirt.

Steve, a longtime Republican, had never voted for a Democrat before Obama, but said that the president seemed to understand the concerns of the people. Aside from being a fiscal conservative, Steve works in the aerospace industry, which typically benefits from the defense spending of Republicans, he said.

“I’ve been outed,” Steve said, when his wife mentioned it.

Former UCI PhD candidate Jessica Ramirez was entering the parking lot as five helicopters took off from the fairgrounds, presumably escorting the president to his next engagement.

“I think [the speech] was really inspiring, but it’s just a speech,” Ramirez said.

She quit her history program because she couldn’t find a secondary job to help finance her education.

Although the president talked about increasing student loan and federal grant opportunities for students, Ramirez hopes that he works to increase funding for universities so that graduate students can benefit as well as undergraduates.

Costa Mesa Councilwoman Katrina Foley sat close to the front of the auditorium. The only Democrat on the council, Foley was a strong Obama supporter during the campaign, participating in phone banks and distributing fliers around the city.

She gave one of the tickets she was allotted to fellow Costa Mesan Heidi Bressler, who said she and her husband don’t have medical insurance and her son didn’t have it either until recently. “I tell my son, ‘Don’t jump off the sofa, don’t ride a bicycle, because if you break anything we can’t afford it,” Bressler said.

She hopes that Obama can make it easier for people with preexisting medical conditions to be insured. Bressler waited in line overnight, but didn’t get tickets that way.

Reporter ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.