With Republicans slugging it out in Florida, Obama will use speech to launch campaign as a champion of the working class
Barack Obama will use his annual state of the union speech to launch his 2012 re-election campaign, portraying himself as the champion of working-class America against the small, wealthy elite he claims is protected by the Republicans.
As the Republicans tore strips off one another over tax and wealth this week in Florida, the president will argue in his televised address to the nation that America is a land of opportunity and everyone deserves a fair chance, not just a privileged few.
He will warn that, in the months left before the election, he will seek to work with Congress, but if Republicans engage in "obstructionism", as the White House claims they did throughout last year, he will confront them and, if necessary, bypass them.
In excerpts released in advance by the White House, Obama used some of his starkest language yet in trying to draw a distinction between Democrats and a new generation of Republicans who have shifted to the right, influenced by the Tea Part movement.
His words will open him up to accusations from the Republicans currently vying for their party's nomination that he is an advocate of 'class warfare'.
The Republican chosen to make the response, Indiana governor Mitch Daniels, also issued excerpts of the rebuttal in advance. His speech will say that Obama's blaming of Republican obstructionism were unfair and untrue. The Republicans, "have passed bills to reduce borrowing, reform entitlements, and encourage new job creation, only to be shot down nearly time and again by the president and his Democrat Senate allies," Daniels will say.
Daniels is to accuse Obama of sowing discord with his message of a wealthy elite and a working-class barely getting by. "No feature of the Obama presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others," Daniels said, in excerpts from his speech released in advance.
In one strikingly partisan passage, to be delivered in front of both the Senate and the House, Obama said the defining issue of the present time is how to keep the promise of America alive. "No challenge is more urgent. No debate is more important. 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."
In a reprisal of his speech to the Democratic convention that first thrust him into the public eye in 2004, in which he said there were no red states or blue states, he will say: "What's at stake are not Democratic values or Republican values, but American values. We have to reclaim them."
He will set out his priorities not only for the coming year but for a second term, mainly to boost jobs through rebuilding the manufacturing base, developing the new energy sector and improving education.
Obama, whose approval ratings have improved marginally this month after being in the dangerously-low 40s, is to take the state of the union message on the road Wednesday with a lengthy trip through the swing states that will determine on November 6 whether he will go down in history as a one-term president or is given another four years.
In spite of White House insistence that this is not a campaign trip but an official one, he will take in Iowa, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Michigan – all toss-up states.
He will promise help for people struggling with the collapse of the housing market and for students in higher education.
"Think about the America within our reach: a country that leads the world in educating its people. An America that attracts a new generation of high-tech manufacturing and high-paying jobs. A future where we're in control of our own energy, and our security and prosperity aren't so tied to unstable parts of the world. An economy built to last, where hard work pays off, and responsibility is rewarded," he will say, according to the excerpts released today.
Obama, in a direct warning to the senators and members of the House sitting in front of him, will say: "As long as I'm president, I will work with anyone in this chamber to build on this momentum. But I intend to fight obstruction with action, and I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place."
In a nod in the direction of the strong public hostility towards banks and Wall Street, he will say: "No, we will not go back to an economy weakened by outsourcing, bad debt, and phoney financial profits. Tonight, I want to speak about how we move forward, and lay out a blueprint for an economy that's built to last – an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values."
In words that could have been written by the Occupy Wall Street movement, he will say: "Let's never forget: millions of Americans who work hard and play by the rules every day deserve a government and a financial system that do the same. It's time to apply the same rules from top to bottom: no bailouts, no handouts, and no cop-outs. An America built to last insists on responsibility from everybody."
With huge disappointment over his presidency so far among Latino voters, who could hold the key to the election, Obama will again repeat his promise, so far unfulfilled, to introduce immigration reform. There are an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living shadow lives in America, mostly Latinos, many of them exploited financially by ruthless employers.
In Florida, Mitt Romney, one of the Republican contenders to take on Obama, is facing a series of questions about his tax affairs after publication of his returns revealed that he paid a much lower rate on his multimillion-dollar income than the average American.
Romney's political opponents challenged him over holdings in a Swiss bank and other overseas accounts, questioning whether he had created tax shelters, something the Romney campaign immediately denied. He was also facing questions over investments in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Romney had earlier criticised rival Newt Gingrich's involvement with the mortgage giants.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are accused of contributing to the housing market collapse – an emotive issue in Florida, a state which has been blighted by lost homes and where the next Republican primary takes place on January 31.
The tax returns, which Romney had steadfastly refused to release until now, show he earned $45m (£29m) over the past two years, and paid just $6.2m in taxes, a rate of about 15%. Most of the income was derived from investments from his $200m-plus fortune.
The documents show that Romney's income places him in the top 1% of earners in the US, which is only likely to add to the political embarrassment around the release of the returns because of its resonance in the age of the Occupy movement and their 'We are the 99%' slogan.
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