Obama Brings Call for Innovation to 'Sputnik' Town

President reinforces message in Wisconsin
Posted Jan 26, 2011 1:53 PM CST
Obama Brings Call for Innovation to 'Sputnik' Town
President Barack Obama tours Orion Energy Systems, a company that makes high-efficiency lighting and renewable solar technology for businesses, Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011, Manitowoc, Wis.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The day after calling for Americans to double down on innovation and seize what he has dubbed the new "Sputnik moment," President Obama reinforced his message in the small town of Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The choice of town in the pivotal electoral state is doubly significant, as Obama delivered the speech at Orion Energy Systems, a successful power technology company that is an example of exactly the kind of innovation Obama is promoting, the AP reports.

Yet Manitowoc is also famous for a "Sputnik moment" of another kind—when a chunk of the famous Russian satellite fell there in 1962. "We're going to need to go all in," said Obama. "We're going to need to get serious about winning the future."
(More Barack Obama stories.)

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