Ames Vet: Obama is Best Hope for 'Getting this Country Straight'

As a member of the Veterans & Military Families for Obama Steering Committee, Billy Langham, 59, wears his Air Force veteran hat with a button that says “Veterans and Military Families for Obama,” and he's also decorated his truck with Obama stickers.

Since being named to the group, some have said to Langham, “I like your hat but I hate your button,” Langham said on the eve of President Barack Obama's to Iowa in 2012.

Others with military ties have told Langham they love his decorated truck. Langham was named to the Iowa's military steering committee for Obama 2012 just last week with a number of other veterans across the state.

It's part of a strategy to identify groups of supports within the campaign who will reach out to other people like themselves and win them over to Obama's side.

“His support of the military has just been amazing,” Langham said.

The disabled veteran has seen how the Veterans Administration has been improved first hand. But Langham is also a member of another group that Americans can identify with. Langham is unemployed.

Langham is a retired Air Force master sergeant whose military career took him around the world. He came back to the United States in 1991 and worked in continuous-improvement divisions for various manufacturing companies before he was laid off in 2007 while working for a U.S. furniture company's Chinese division. He came to Ames to be near his daughter and was laid off again in March.

For Langham, who is 59 and disabled, finding a job is nearly impossible. He can't stand or walk very far because of back problems and arthritis in his hips. He's not starving, but he won't be taking any vacations or buying a new car in the next 10 years, he said.

Langham expects that the economy will be a big factor in the upcoming election.

“I don't know that the economy is being viewed correctly,” Langham said.

A large portion of unemployment today has been caused by companies upgrading their technology and not needing to hire as many people back, he said.

“Technology has taken some companies to a different place,” Langham said. “That's not a Republican or a Democrat thing it's just a business thing."

Langham, who calls himself a yellow dog Democrat, said he met the president in the 2008 campaign and is particularly impressed with Obama's intelligence.

“I think he is the best hope for getting this country straight again,” Langham said.