Obama Drives Chevy Volt, Pumps Up Auto Workers

President Barack Obama visited General Motors and Chrysler automotive plants on Friday, and even took the chance to drive Chevy's new electric car, the Volt.

Teri Quigley, plant manager at GM's Detroit-Hamtramck plant who escorted the President on his tour commented: "I will remember most the sheer excitement of our work force. The president was genuinely interested in the way we put the cars together."

President Obama also expressed his confidence in Detroit automakers.

"A lot of people were skeptical. There were many who said we should just let the market take its course. Let GM go bankrupt. Let Chrysler go out of business," Obama told the crowd at General Motors' Hamtramck plant.

"But I had confidence in you."

According to the Detroit Free Press, "The biggest applause line so far came when Obama said Chrysler’s Sterling Heights plant, scheduled for closure, will stay open and add another shift.

“When a plant thrives, that doesn’t just affect the new workers, it affects the entire community,” Obama said, adding he talked to a worker on the Chrysler line, who thanked him for the federal help.

“I need to get out of the house,” Obama said the worker told him. “I told him I know your wife really felt that way.”