SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – President Barack Obama says "putting the economy into overdrive" is a top priority, even as a new poll showed the public giving him poor marks in this area.
The Associated Press-GfK poll underscored the selling job that confronts the president as he prepares to seek a second term: People like Obama personally, but just 35 percent say the economy's gotten better during his tenure.
Appearing in Schenectady, N.Y., Obama announced that he was naming GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt as the head of a Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, his latest move to court a business community that he's clashed with amid rising unemployment. Addressing workers at a General Electric plant, Obama recommitted himself to spending the next two years trying to speed up the economic recovery. His success or failure there is likely to be the central issue of the coming 2012 presidential campaign.
"Our job is to do everything we can to ensure that businesses can take root, and folks can find good jobs," the president said.
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