Obama Chamber of Commerce speech: audience applauds -- twice in 35 minutes

Chamber claps twice for Obama

The good news for President Obama: The Chamber of Commerce broke into applause twice during his speech Monday morning to welcome his ideas.

The bad news: They clapped just twice, in a 35-minute address.
Obama himself acknowledged early on that he doesn’t have the best relationship with the Chamber. (“Maybe if we had brought over a fruit cake when we first moved in, we would have got off to a better start,” he joked.)

The first applause line came halfway through Obama’s remarks, as he spoke of opening up new markets and selling more American goods in other countries.

“I’ll go anywhere to be a booster for American businesses, American workers and American products,” Obama said, to which the audience broke into applause. Then, in an ad-libbed moment, Obama remarked, “And I don’t charge a commission.”

The only other applause for Obama came at the end, when Obama once again hit the right note in calling for bringing jobs back the United States.

“That’s good for everybody,” he said. “So if I’ve got a message, that message is: ‘Now’s the time to invest in America.’ ” As the audience applauded, Obama repeated, “Now’s the time to invest in America.”