{"id":1898,"date":"2011-12-06T13:35:37","date_gmt":"2011-12-06T21:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/?p=1898"},"modified":"2011-12-06T13:35:37","modified_gmt":"2011-12-06T21:35:37","slug":"obama-sees-make-or-break-time-for-middle-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/2011\/12\/obama-sees-make-or-break-time-for-middle-class\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama Sees ‘Make or Break’ Time for Middle Class"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

OSAWATOMIE, Kan. (AP) – President Barack Obama<\/a>delivered a sweeping indictment of economic inequality in the U.S. on Tuesday as he summoned the memory of President Theodore Roosevelt<\/a> and pledged to fight for fairness at a “make or break moment for the middle class.”<\/p>\n

Only a month before Republican voters begin choosing a presidential nominee, Obama traveled to small-town Osawatomie, Kan., where Roosevelt delivered his “New Nationalism” address in 1910, to embrace the progressive reformer’s calls for a “square deal” for regular Americans.<\/p>\n

Obama warned of the unraveling of the American dream, and called for giving hurting middle-class workers a fair shake and restoring financial security\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthemes he’s certain to return to throughout the 2012 campaign.<\/p>\n

“This isn’t just another political debate. This is the defining issue of our time. This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class, and all those who are fighting to get into the middle class,” Obama told a crowd in the Osawatomie High School gym, where red, white and blue bunting lined the bleachers.<\/p>\n

“Because at stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home, and secure their retirement,” he said.<\/p>\n

Taking aim at Republicans, Obama said: “Their philosophy is simple: we are better off when everyone is left to fend for themselves and play by their own rules. Well, I’m here to say they are wrong.”<\/p>\n

Obama’s speech sounded the theme of inequality of income and opportunity, which the White House<\/a> sees as a major force in current politics, but it was short on new ideas or specifics for pulling the country out of its economic doldrums.
\nCopyright 2011 The Associated Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OSAWATOMIE, Kan. (AP) – President Barack Obamadelivered a sweeping indictment of economic inequality in the U.S. on Tuesday as he summoned the memory of President Theodore Roosevelt and pledged to fight for fairness at a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[9,12,7,248],"tags":[255,3322,3324,3323,3321,1519,3319],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1898"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1898\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/savingtherepublic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}