hat tip-The Obama Diary:

THIS is why the GOP is SKURRRED of The President.

Auto workers applaud as U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the United Auto Workers conference in Washington February 28, 2012.
—REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

From The Plum Line Blog:

Posted at 12:58 PM ET, 02/28/2012
Obama hits Romney with withering mockery as he makes case for reelection
By Greg Sargent

In a speech to the United Auto Workers just now, Obama defended his decision to bail out the auto industry, lacing into Mitt Romney with withering derision. But this speech was about more than the auto-bailout. It was Obama’s case for reelection.

This speech constituted Obama’s most ambitious effort yet to weave his defense of the auto rescue into the larger contrast he will try to draw between his vision and the “you’re on your own” ideology he will accuse Republicans of representing.

Romney is likely to be a formidable general election opponent, particularly if the recovery doesn’t accelerate. And the voters at stake in the argument over the auto bailout — blue collar whites, independents, struggling swing state voters — are very much up for grabs.

But today’s speech was important: It revealed that the alternate reality Romney has been functioning in throughout the GOP primary is soon going to give way to another reality entirely, a general election reality — and Romney, presuming he will be the nominee, will soon collide with it.

In recent days, that alternate reality has meant that Romney has been speaking to audiences who nod along when he tells them that he got the auto-bailout right, even though he predicted that it would lead to the auto industry’s demise. It has meant speaking to audiences who cheer when Romney makes the convoluted case that things would be better still if we hadn’t pursued the auto-bailout, and that government intervention accomplished nothing more than a giveaway to “union bosses.”

Things will soon change rather abruptly.

In his speech, Obama — without naming Romney — went out of his way to ridicule his justifications for opposing the auto-bailout and his current dissembling about how he got it right.

A person holds up four fingers for four more years as President Barack Obama spoke at the United Auto Workers conference in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012.
—-AP Photo/Susan Walsh

WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 28: U.S. President Barack Obama addresses the United Auto Workers’ National Community Action Program Legislative Conference at the Marriott Wardman Park hotel February 28, 2012 in Washington, DC. As primary voters went to the polls in Michigan and Arizona, Obama told the union members that his administration’s decision to save the auto industry was good for the economy and, “As long as you?ve got an ounce of fight left in you, I?ll have a ton of fight left in me.”
—Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 28: U.S. President Barack Obama gets a standing ovation while addressing the United Auto Workers’ National Community Action Program Legislative Conference at the Marriott Wardman Park hotel February 28, 2012 in Washington, DC. As primary voters went to the polls in Michigan and Arizona, Obama told the union members that his administration’s decision to save the auto industry was good for the economy and, “As long as you?ve got an ounce of fight left in you, I?ll have a ton of fight left in me.”
—- Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 28: U.S. President Barack Obama (R) embraces members of the United Auto Workers’ executive board during their National Community Action Program Legislative Conference at the Marriott Wardman Park hotel February 28, 2012 in Washington, DC. As primary voters went to the polls in Michigan and Arizona, Obama told the union members that his administration’s decision to save the auto industry was good for the economy and, “As long as you’ve got an ounce of fight left in you, I’ll have a ton of fight left in me.”
—-Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images