Obama Boasts Saving Auto Industry 'On the Brink'

President Barack Obama is crediting his politically risky bailout of the U.S car companies with turning around an "industry on the brink."

Speaking at a Ford plant that is adding 1,200 jobs and a second shift, Obama says that while others criticized his $60 billion bailout over a year ago, he chose that course because of his faith in American workers.

While Ford did not accept federal funds, Obama argued that the company did benefit from a resurgence in the industry following the bailout of General Motors and Chrysler.

Following his stop at the Ford plant, Obama will head to three political fundraising events.

The president has found a personal peg at each of his recent visits to the Big Three Automakers, CBS News White House correspondent Peter Maer reports.

He told Chrysler workers in Detroit his first new car was a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

At a GM plant, he boasted about the presidential Cadillac limo.

Today at the Chicago Ford plant, he said his most recent new car was a Ford Escape but as soon as he received Secret Service protection he was banned from driving it.