Addressing a divided nation surrounded by a determined GOP campaign to take his
job, President Barack Obama is preparing to issue a populist cry for
economic fairness as he aims to corral the sympathies of middle-class
voters 10 months before Election Day.
Obama delivers his third State of the Union address Tuesday in a
capital and country shot through with politics, with his re-election
campaign well under way and his potential GOP opponents lobbing attacks
against him daily as they scrap for the right to take him on.
The President's
9 p.m. EST address to a joint session of Congress and
millions of television viewers will be as much as anything an argument
for his re-election, the president’s biggest, best chance so far to
offer a vision for a second term.
Senior political adviser David Plouffe said Tuesday morning the
president is “happy to have a debate” about his performance. Asked in
an interview about Republican candidate Newt Gingrich’s description of
Obama as the “food stamp president,” Plouffe replied, “It’s a cheap
applause line for the Republican base.”
Bill Galston, a former Clinton administration domestic policy
adviser now at the Brookings Institution, said, “Almost by definition
it’s going to be at least as much a political speech as a governing
speech.”
“The president must run on his record,” Galston said, “and that
means talking candidly and persuasively with the country about the very
distinctive nature of the challenges the American economy faced when
he took office and what has gone right for the past three years, and
what needs to be done in addition.”
With economic anxiety showing through everywhere, the speech will
focus on a vision for restoring the middle class, with Obama facing the
tricky task of persuading voters to stick with him even as joblessness
remains high at 8.5 percent. Obama can point to positive signs,
including continued if sluggish growth; his argument will be that he is
the one to restore economic equality for middle-class voters.
Implicit in the argument, even if he never names frontrunners Gingrich and Mitt Romney, is that they are on the other side.
Obama’s speech will come as Gingrich and Romney have transformed the
Republican campaign into a real contest ahead of Florida’s crucial
primary next week. And he’ll be speaking on the same day that Romney, a
multimillionaire, released his tax returns, offering a vivid
illustration of wealth that could play into Obama’s argument about the
growing divide between rich and poor.
Asked in an interview Tuesday about Romney’s relatively modest tax
rate in the range of 15 percent, given that he’s a multi-millionaire,
Plouffe said, “We need to change our tax system. We need to change our
tax code so that everybody is doing their fair share.”
Obama will frame the campaign to come as a fight for fairness for
those who are struggling to keep a job, a home or college savings and
losing faith in how the country works.
The speech will feature the themes of manufacturing, clean energy,
education and American values. The president is expected to urge higher
taxes on the wealthy, propose ways to make college more affordable,
offer new steps to tackle a debilitating housing crisis and push to
help U.S. manufacturers expand hiring.
For three days following his speech, Obama will promote his ideas in
five states key to his re-election bid. On Wednesday he’ll visit Iowa
and Arizona to promote ideas to boost American manufacturing; on
Thursday in Nevada and Colorado he’ll discuss energy; and in Michigan
Friday he’ll talk about college affordability, education and training.
Polling shows Americans are divided about Obama’s overall job
performance but unsatisfied with his handling of the economy.
The lines of argument between Obama and his rivals are already
stark, with America’s economic insecurity and the role of government at
the center.
Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., chairman of the House Budget Committee, said that Obama “can’t run on his record.”
The president has offered signals about his speech, telling campaign
supporters he wants an economy “that works for everyone, not just a
wealthy few.” Gingrich, on the other hand, calls Obama “the most
effective food stamp president in history.” Romney says Obama “wants to
turn America into a European-style entitlement society.”
Obama will make bipartisan overtures to lawmakers but will leave
little doubt he will act without their help when it’s necessary and
possible, an approach his aides say has let him stay on offense.
The public is more concerned about domestic troubles over foreign
policy than at any other time in the past 15 years, according to a new
survey by the Pew Research Center. Some 81 percent want Obama to focus
his speech on domestic affairs, not foreign ones; just five years ago,
the view was evenly split.
On the day before Obama’s speech, his campaign released a short Web
ad showing monthly job losses during the end of the Bush administration
and the beginning of the Obama administration, with positive job
growth for nearly two Obama years. Republicans assail him for failing
to achieve a lot more.
House Speaker John Boehner, responding to reports of Obama’s speech
themes, said it was a rehash of unhelpful policies. “It’s pathetic,” he
said.
Presidential spokesman Jay Carney said Monday that Obama is not
conceding the next 10 months to “campaigning alone” when people need
economic help. On the goals of helping people get a fair shot, Carney
said, “There’s ample room within those boundaries for bipartisan
cooperation and for getting this done.”
