In Detroit today, President Obama offered some hard truth about the future of the auto industry–an industry, if you recall, that has been, well, not exactly thriving. Reuters reports that the President said that a lot of people need to learn how to do new jobs.

“(The) hard truth is that some of the jobs that have been lost in the auto industry and elsewhere won’t be coming back,” Obama was to say, according to prepared remarks released by the White House.

“They are casualties of a changing economy. And that only underscores the importance of generating new businesses and industries to replace the ones we’ve lost, and of preparing our workers to fill the jobs they create,” Obama will say.

Stating that jobless rates are going to continue to rise before they get better, Obama pushed his $12 billion plan to better fund community colleges and increase graduation rates so people are better trained for a variety of jobs, making education a cornerstone of his economic recovery plan.

If I recall correctly (which is usually less than a 50-50 bet), during his campaign, John McCain went to Detroit to tell people their jobs weren’t coming back, and they’d better find new jobs in new industries. Apparently President Obama thinks that’s $12 billion worth of good advice, and is borrowing McCain’s tough love approach to make his point. As unfun as it must be to hear, “You need to learn how to do something else,” it is the truth of the situation, and at least the President is trying to fund the restructuring that needs to be done.

photo credit: jurvetson’s flickr photostream/Creative Commons