GALESBURG, Ill. — President Obama described a vulnerable economic recovery Wednesday that he said is being undermined by worsening partisan politics in Washington and urged the country to stand behind his budget priorities in the months ahead as the best way to promote jobs and protect the middle class.
Angrily denouncing House Republicans for opposing legislation he says would benefit the economy, Obama said political obstruction is hampering what has been a steady, if unfinished, climb from the depths of the worst recession in generations. The speech broke little new policy ground, but in its populism introduced a less-retrained Obama to the next round of debate over the federal budget and the best way to ensure sustained economic growth.
“As Washington prepares to enter another budget debate, the stakes for our middle class could not be higher,” Obama told an audience of several hundred gathered in the gymnasium of Knox College, a small liberal arts college here that he visited as a new U.S. senator.
“The countries that are passive in the face of a global economy will lose the competition for good jobs and high living standards,” he continued. “That’s why America has to make the investments necessary to promote long-term growth and shared prosperity.”
The speech here is the first in what White House advisers say will be a series on economic challenges facing the country, which he will deliver over the next two months. Obama is seeking to shape the fall debate over budget priorities — his own and the Republican opposition’s — before a divided Congress takes up spending bills this fall.
Although Obama has spent much of his time in office on economic issues, the start of his second term has been pulled in a variety of directions, not always by his choosing. Revelations over his National Security Agency surveillance programs, allegations of political bias in the Internal Revenue Service and broad unrest in the Middle East have for months pushed the fragile economy from the center of Washington’s political debate.
Obama is traveling now to places such as this home-state college town, where he delivered his first major address as a U.S. senator eight years ago, to remind the country of the progress the American economy on his watch and the challenges it faces to adapt to a globalized, technology-driven future.
To solve them, he argued, the government must play a role in promoting manufacturing, making college affordable, training future workers, and ensuring a string safety net to protect the middle class from calamity as the economy shifts.
“Thanks to the grit and resilience of the American people, we’ve cleared away the rubble from the financial crisis and begun to lay a new foundation for stronger, more durable economic growth,” Obama said. “But I’m here today to tell you what you already know — we’re not there yet.”
Congressional Republicans have said they welcome Obama’s intention to work on the economy, which they say is underperforming because of his spending priorities, but criticize the lack of new ideas in what he intends to present over the coming weeks.
Angrily denouncing House Republicans for opposing legislation he says would benefit the economy, Obama said political obstruction is hampering what has been a steady, if unfinished, climb from the depths of the worst recession in generations. The speech broke little new policy ground, but in its populism introduced a less-retrained Obama to the next round of debate over the federal budget and the best way to ensure sustained economic growth.
“As Washington prepares to enter another budget debate, the stakes for our middle class could not be higher,” Obama told an audience of several hundred gathered in the gymnasium of Knox College, a small liberal arts college here that he visited as a new U.S. senator.
“The countries that are passive in the face of a global economy will lose the competition for good jobs and high living standards,” he continued. “That’s why America has to make the investments necessary to promote long-term growth and shared prosperity.”
The speech here is the first in what White House advisers say will be a series on economic challenges facing the country, which he will deliver over the next two months. Obama is seeking to shape the fall debate over budget priorities — his own and the Republican opposition’s — before a divided Congress takes up spending bills this fall.
Although Obama has spent much of his time in office on economic issues, the start of his second term has been pulled in a variety of directions, not always by his choosing. Revelations over his National Security Agency surveillance programs, allegations of political bias in the Internal Revenue Service and broad unrest in the Middle East have for months pushed the fragile economy from the center of Washington’s political debate.
Obama is traveling now to places such as this home-state college town, where he delivered his first major address as a U.S. senator eight years ago, to remind the country of the progress the American economy on his watch and the challenges it faces to adapt to a globalized, technology-driven future.
To solve them, he argued, the government must play a role in promoting manufacturing, making college affordable, training future workers, and ensuring a string safety net to protect the middle class from calamity as the economy shifts.
“Thanks to the grit and resilience of the American people, we’ve cleared away the rubble from the financial crisis and begun to lay a new foundation for stronger, more durable economic growth,” Obama said. “But I’m here today to tell you what you already know — we’re not there yet.”
Congressional Republicans have said they welcome Obama’s intention to work on the economy, which they say is underperforming because of his spending priorities, but criticize the lack of new ideas in what he intends to present over the coming weeks.