Obama Helps Woman With Husband's Resume After Google Plus Hangout

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama may help Jennifer Wedel's husband find a job. Whether he gets her vote is another question.

Two days after Obama talked with Wedel during an online town hall and offered to take a look at her unemployed husband's resume, Wedel said the president has followed through.

Wedel told The Associated Press in a phone interview Wednesday that she got a call from a White House deputy chief of staff, Alyssa Mastromonaco, who told her Obama had made a personal point of making sure the matter was taken care of. Mastromonaco said the resume was sent to contacts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area where the couple lives.

Now Wedel's husband Darin has been contacted by several recruiters, and Wedel said she's grateful.

But Wedel, a Republican, said that may not be enough to get her vote unless Obama also improves some of his job policies.

"Just because he's able to send a resume out, that's not going to be a vote factor," Wedel said.

"We're just one American," she said. "There are thousands of Americans just like my husband with no job."

Wedel wants Obama to look at limiting the number of visas going to high-tech workers from foreign countries, the issue she raised with him Monday evening in the forum hosted by Google Plus. Wedel was able to question Obama in a live video chat room known as a Hangout.

Obama expressed surprise during their exchange that Darin Wedel was out of work, saying that the word he was getting from industry was that fields like semiconductor engineering were in demand and Darin Wedel should be able to get a job. Obama also said he found the situation "interesting," a comment Republicans have subsequently used to attack the president by suggesting he's out of touch with the concerns of the unemployed.

Jennifer Wedel said Wednesday that she felt like she was "hushed up a little bit" by Obama when they spoke, but that she also found him candid and appreciated his accessibility. "I don't think any other president has shown that outreach," Wedel said.

Related on HuffPost:

Comments

[ashley krys]

10:50 PM on 02/03/2012

I don't know why Obama went out of his way to help an ungrateful Republican!!! She would rather vote for Mitt Romney that puts people on unemployment than to vote for someone who is trying to help people get off of unemployment!!! But that"s how Republicans are they always act like everyone owes them!!!

[mashtoe]

06:41 PM on 02/02/2012

You need to understand the impact of H-1b work visas. Engineering jobs are not that common and are usually specialized. Obama supports H-1b work visas which allows corporations to import foreign labor. Since H-1b started wages have stagnated. And now we see layoffs at many tech companies. Yet Obama and the Democrats keep pushing hard for more work visas. It's no mystery why wages are flat and the recovery is lopsided.

We have the federal government interfering in labor markets to increase supply and drive down wages. Do Democrats propose we increase the size of the executive boards and import more executives to drive down executive pay? No. But the executive board structure is dictated by state law. And yet Obama ignores high pay there. Obama ONLY works to drive down worker's pay. Same with Democrats in general. Democrats hate it if workers are successful.

[CommonSenseForChange]

01:07 PM on 02/04/2012

Since it is both Republican­s and Dems that support the H1B, I have a big problem with you laying the blame on Obama. I agree on the rest.

I agree with the woman that asked the question about her husband's situation being tied to the H1B visa policies of our government­. I am glad she made it through to get President Obama's ear on this issue because H1Bs (and a whole host of other work-relat­ed foreign visas along with unpaid internship­s) are devastatin­g our economy.

There is no shortage of American citizen talent. I only wish this silly woman hadn't been so hell-bent on resorting to her apparent dare to belt racism into the mix with her ignorant request that our President dance a jig. I am, however, very glad that Obama overlooked her ignorance and chose to focus on the real issues -- unemployment, the impact of the H1B visas on Americans, and the quality of the information he is receiving from his "experts".

On this issue, Obama is getting 99% false informatio­n. By relying solely on big businesses that pretend to be philantrop­ic (all-jobs-are-temp-jobs-Bill Gates/Microsoft, non-EEO-numbers-reporting-Google and We-plan-to-send-all-jobs-to-the-cheapest-country-we-can-exploit-IBM, etc.), Obama is being fed lies.

Because of the google+ hang out, Obama has now had a chance to get the real facts from a regular citizen. I hope the dialog surrounding this topic continues.

[Ed Mlakar]

03:44 PM on 02/06/2012

Engineering jobs may not be that commom but there are over one million H1-b visa recipients in the US making over $40/hr.

The banks and hiTech firms lobby the politicians to get cheaper labor.

when Obama was asked about H1-B visas his answer was the he 'hears' that there is a shortage of engineers. It seems Obama is listening to the lobbyist and not the people

Politicians love corporate welfare

[MasterHurrikane]

03:51 PM on 02/02/2012

ungrateful...... shame....

[OldJazzyGirl]

05:07 PM on 02/03/2012

And, typically, quite dim.

[grovestand12]

02:53 PM on 02/02/2012

she is not deserving of President Obama's attention or assistance.

[KenGirard]

10:06 PM on 02/02/2012

No, you are wrong. She is an American citizen. That makes her worthy of the President's attention and assistance.
It would be nice if all the members of Congress would pay all American's the same kind of attention, and override the moronic few stopping anything useful from going through.

[grovestand12]

09:35 AM on 02/03/2012

i have my opinion and you have yours.

[Blue in KS]

02:50 PM on 02/02/2012

So she'd rather vote for Republicans, who tell the unemployed that it's their own fault they don't have a job, who hold extended unemployment benefits hostage over an oil pipeline. She'd rather vote for Romney the Clueless, who tells the unemployed, "Hey, I'm unemployed, too," and tries to hand them a twenty-dollar bill to ease their pain, who spent decades breaking companies, laying off workers, sending US jobs overseas. She'd rather vote for them than for the guy who's trying to get her husband a job?

Lady, your brain isn't there to keep your eyeballs propped up. Use it once in a while.

[Hey338Too]

02:30 PM on 02/02/2012

This is the same woman who asked our President to dance for her? This woman should be ashamed of herself. The leader of the free world takes the time to help her family and that is not enough to earn her vote??? She thinks a head hunter is going to treat a resume sent to them by the office of the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA in the say way they treat an unsolicited resume from her husband who has been out of work for 2 years???? If the guy doesn't get a job out of this he is hopeless. She and her family should be standing on a podium behind the president supporting him. What an ingrate - totally classless!!

[ejfreeman]

02:21 PM on 02/02/2012

How could any female be a Republican ?

[Kara Kramer]

02:13 PM on 02/02/2012

'I don't think any other president has shown that kind of outreach'
Yet she still supports the republican party, a party that would criminalise her miscarraiges and reduce laws against domestic violence.
There is no rational reason for this woman's political affiliation.

[Rick Huggins]

02:31 PM on 02/02/2012

Well, did you catch the article about the I Q's, it kind of tells the whole story. Not to excuse this lady but, just saying.

[liberal leaning]

02:10 PM on 02/02/2012

I knew she was a repulican when she kept calling him Obama, don't need your vote, but glad your husband got a chance at a job, unlike your party people count, not how much money they can count.

[veteran1964]

01:56 PM on 02/02/2012

Hey lady....You could have gone to Mittens and he would have handed you a twenty dollar bill......Could that have been better? Who cares who you vote for lady? I don't.

[MotivatedMarine0311]

01:54 PM on 02/02/2012

Obama should quit his day job and become a staffing agent.

[clear voice]

01:39 PM on 02/02/2012

I'm appalled that Obama would help a White Woman & A White Man...
Signed, Mitt

[ljc]

01:31 PM on 02/02/2012

She is a phoney baloney......

[FiredUpRTG]

01:27 PM on 02/02/2012

HuffPo - Please follow up; the tech industry is strong job-wise. Let's hope the husband can run with the ball now that it's thrown to him.

[Left of Center]

01:21 PM on 02/02/2012

"Just because he's able to send a resume out, that's not going to be a vote factor," Wedel said."

My guess??? Even if 44 found EVERY REPUBLICAN a job, she still wouldn't vote for him (or any Dem POTUS...)

[therealone]

01:52 PM on 02/02/2012

Then they'd whine about not getting a raise.

[dangerouslysane]

10:46 PM on 03/23/2012

Why doesn't she ask the GOP majority in the House where their jobs bill is? Wedel has no class. I'm glad the President extended himself to help her husband, however, as it was the right thing to do & it was within his capacity. The fact that, to Wedel, nothing this president does would be likely to get her to vote for him instead of any GOP candidate who gets nominated says a great deal about Wedel. It tells me that she would accept garbage from any of the GOP hopefuls, which is a good thing, because that is all any of them would give her, since she and her husband are not millionaires & therefore, are not worthy of their attention.