Obama to feel economic pain in Ohio

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama Friday heads for the decaying Ohio rust-belt, seeking to show empathy with the heartland's economic woes after a Republican election win sent shockwaves through US politics.Obama will spend a day in a campaign-style swing through the hard-hit midwestern state, often a bellwether in US elections, which is again looming large ahead of key mid-term congressional polls in November.The president, who frankly admitted this week that his connection with everyday Americans had frayed, will hold a town hall-style meeting, tour local businesses and talk about political anger brewing across the United States.Obama is adopting a more populist tone following the shock of the Republican victory in the Massachusetts special election which saw Democrats lose their crucial supermajority in the Senate.On Thursday, he unveiled a new bid to restrict the size and scope of banks and finance firms blamed for triggering the financial crisis with risky bets, in the latest stage of a crackdown on Wall Street.And aides say, Obama hopes to shift the political spotlight onto jobs, speeding up the economic recovery and cutting the budget deficit in the run-up to the mid-term elections which traditionally damage first-term presidents.Republicans boosted by the victory of insurgent candidate Scott Brown in liberal Massachusetts are cranking up their own populist rhetoric."Democrats aren't listening to the people," said John Boehner, the top Republican in the House of Representatives on Thursday."Right now, the American people are asking, ?where (are) the jobs??"Five days before his annual State of the Union address, Obama will also seek to inject new political momentum into his health care reform plan, now in limbo amid serious doubts about whether he can move it through the Senate.With 59 of the 60 seats in the Senate, Democrats have a comfortable majority, but are one short of the number needed to thwart Republican delaying tactics, which can prevent key measures from being put to a final vote.Obama

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