ELYRIA: President Barack Obama Friday vowed he would "never stop fighting" for struggling Americans, in a fiery political counter-attack meant to mend Democratic morale and his frayed bond with voters.

Obama sought to recapture the passion of his 2008 campaign, after a wake-up call from voters in liberal Massachusetts who sent a Republican to the Senate, and with his health care plan and wider agenda under assault in Congress.

"I'll never stop fighting to give every American a fair shake," Obama said, at a town-hall style meeting in the rust-belt state of Ohio, a vital bellwether in mid-term elections in November shaping up as another hit for Democrats.

In a highly populist speech, Obama said he would fight Wall Street to restore home values, for his embattled health reform plan, to stop credit card companies cheating customers and to cut "exploding" deficits.

Five days before his showpiece State of the Union Speech, Obama also vowed to redouble the fight to pass historic health reform, which has tumbled into limbo in the US Congress.

"I got to admit, we hit a bit of a buzz saw," Obama said of the year-long effort to pass the reform despite opposition from Republicans and the health insurance industry.

"I had no illusions when I took on health care. It was always going to be hard," Obama said.

"And I?m going to keep up the fight for real, meaningful health insurance reforms."

And the president, posing as the champion of regular people, added: "I can promise you, there will be more fights in the days ahead."

Obama critics, some of them Democrats, have faulted him for not being passionate enough in fighting economic blight, of siding too much with Wall Street and of appearing aloof while everyday Americans struggle.

But with his soaring approval ratings of just a year ago wilting, the under-fire president told a crowd in Ohio: "You know what, I win when you win."

"So long as I have the privilege of serving as your president, I'll never stop fighting for you. I'll take my lumps, too."

His day of rubbing shoulders with Ohians in colleges, factories and a small town bar were designed to enhance the president's "regular guy" credentials and to convince people he knows how tough things are.

"The truth is, being president is also a little confining," Obama said, explaining how he came to neglect his connection with Americans as he faced multiple crises in his first year in office.

"I can't just walk around and visit people like I used to. I can't just go to the barber shop or sit at a diner."

Obama noted the political tumult following the loss by Democrats of a seat in Massachusetts -- which deprived his party of the Senate supermajority it needed to pass major legislation unchallenged by Republicans.

While lashing out against the financial industry, Obama also justified his highly unpopular decision to stick with the previous administration's bank bailout plans.

Had he not acted, he said, the country would have fallen into a second Great Depression, which would have taken a terrible future toll on ordinary Americans, or Main Street.

Obama made a surprise stop at a bar and restaurant in the depressed town of Elyria, known as "Smitty's -- where Friends Meet" in an apparent bid to burnish his image as a man of the people.

He bumped into one man, 98-year-old Charles Raynor, who was just about to tuck into a plate of French Fries.

"I am just pleased to see Charlie is still eating fries at 98," Obama said as he posed for a picture.

Another man, sitting at the bar, Shawn Hatcher, was celebrating his 42nd birthday.

"Nothing wrong with 42. I am 48," the president said, adding, "I am going to buy this guy's lunch."

Republicans boosted by the victory of insurgent candidate Scott Brown in liberal Massachusetts are cranking up their own populist rhetoric.

"For the past year, Ohioans have watched anxiously as Washington Democrats?, with the approval of President Obama, have pushed a job-killing agenda that includes a ?stimulus? that isn?t working," said John Boehner, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives who represents an Ohio district.

Unemployment in Ohio is 10.6 percent, even higher than the brutal national average of 10 percent.

But the White House Obama says Obama's 787 billion dollar economic stimulus plan has created 79,000 jobs in Ohio.