In front of a raucous crowd of over 3,000 supporters chanting “We will, we will Barack you!” to the tune of the classic Queen song, Barack Obama laid out his plan for bailing the middle class out of their economic woes and spoke about how the United States needs to follow Toledo’s example in the field of solar powered energy.

The crowd at Toledo’s Seagate Convention Center, who spent nearly half of the time during Obama’s speech standing, clapping and banging their feet on the bleachers, seemed to hang on every word from the Illinois Senator.

“Obama speaks to people like me,” Katrina Barry of Toledo said. “Middle class people who work everyday and just try to take care of our families – he’ really out there for us.”

Obama spent most of his speech laying out his economic plan for the future. He broke the plan down into three parts: Creating jobs, providing immediate relief for middle class families through a tax rebate and providing relief for the average homeowner, with the main focus on jobs and small businesses.

“Today I’m proposing a number of steps that we should take immediately to stabilize our financial system, provide relief to families and communities, and help struggling homeowners,” Obama said. “It’s a plan that begins with one word that’s on everyone’s mind, and it’s spelled J-O-B-S.”

Key points from Obama’s plan included people’s ability to withdraw up to 15 percent, $10,000 maximum, from their retirement funds as well as a proposed three month moratorium or grace period for home owners who are struggling to pay off their home loans.

“For those Americans in danger of losing their homes, today I’m also proposing a three-month moratorium on foreclosures,” Obama said. “If you are a bank or lender that is getting money from the rescue plan that passed Congress, and your customers are making a good-faith effort to make their mortgage payments and re-negotiate their mortgages, you will not be able to foreclose on their home for three months. We need to give people the breathing room they need to get back on their feet.”

Obama also emphasized strengthening and solidifying small businesses as well as attempting to create more to keep both industry and jobs in America and out of foreign hands.

This emphasis on keeping jobs in America sent the crowd into a nearly half minute roar of applause and shouting.

“The job issue (was the most important thing Obama spoke about),” William Vore of Perrysburg said. “I just got laid off – I wouldn’t have been here today if I wasn’t laid off, so the issue of jobs is very important to me.”

Obama concluded his speech by talking about how each person in the audience and in the country has a story and a dream for a better life, especially for their children.

“We can do this – Americans have done this before,” Obama said. “Some of us had grandparents or parents who said maybe I can’t go to college but my child can; maybe I can’t have my own business but my child can. I may have to rent, but maybe my children will have a home they can call their own. I may not have a lot of money but maybe my child will run for Senate. I might live in a small village but maybe someday my son can be president of the United States of America.”

Contact public affairs reporter Marcus Barkley at [email protected].