Obama makes pitch to middle class in State of the Union speech

GOP accuses president of election-year class warfare.

By Richard S. Dunham and Stewart M. Powell

Updated 06:16 a.m., Wednesday, January 25, 2012

 

WASHINGTON — Drawing a stark division between middle-class America seeking a “fair shake” and wealthy interests seeking to game the capitalist system, President Barack Obama told the nation Tuesday that the struggle to keep the American Dream alive is “the defining issue of our time.”

 

“We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by — or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules,” the president said during a feisty State of the Union address. 

 

Obama's annual report to Congress was designed by the White House to set the tone for the 2012 congressional session and the president's re-election campaign. 

 

Ratcheting up the populist rhetoric he started in an economic speech last month in Osawatomie, Kan., Obama offered a list of legislative proposals, including tax breaks for recession-ravaged families, tax incentives for small businesses to hire new workers and tax cuts for companies that move jobs back from overseas to the U.S.. 

 

He combined those with a new minimum tax payment for millionaires, expiration of the Bush tax cuts on upper-income Americans and elimination of oil industry tax incentives. 

 

“Millions of Americans who work hard and play by the rules every day deserve a government and a financial system that do the same,” he said in a 65-minute speech interrupted about 80 times for applause. “It's time to apply the same rules from top to bottom: No bailouts, no handouts and no copouts. An America built to last insists on responsibility from everybody.” 

 

Obama's hard-edged populism underscored the vast ideological chasm that separates the two parties. 

 

The president portrayed his vision for the future as one of fairness and prosperity for all. Republicans portrayed the Democratic incumbent's worldview as one of extremism, divisiveness and class envy. 

 

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