President Barack Obama ventured Wednesday to a mostly blue-collar region of the United States and tried to engage an audience that was indifferent to him.
The 15 community college students who were picked to stand immediately behind the president, and in view of the TV cameras, mostly stood stone-faced through his speech.
At the end, when the president walked back from the podium to smile and wave at the roughly 60 people in the bleachers 20 feet behind him, he faced a unfriendly wall of faces.
The White House video of the bleacher’s front rank shows three men with their hands crossed, one with his hands stuck in his pockets and one who let his arms fall by his side. Obama flew to the Community College of Allegheny County, in Oakdale, Pa., so he could tout a new spending program that is intended to encourage technical training at community colleges. Oakdale is a suburb of Pittsburgh, and is part of the 18th Congressional District, now held by Republican Tim Murphy. Oakdale’s population is roughly 1,500, down from roughly 2,000 in 1980.
Read more: