--POTUS last night, at an Organizing for Action dinner at the Mandarin
"Galesburg is where I gave my first big speech [June 2005] after I had been elected to the United States Senate. It was the commencement at Knox College, and it was a speech about the economy. ... And all these trends that had been taking place were visible at the time -- rising inequality, struggles in the middle class -- but they were papered over to some extent by the bubble. And by the time I took office, the bottom had fallen out. ... [O]ver the last five years, ... because of the grit and resilience and determination of the American people, we've been able to clear away the rubble and get back to where we were. The speech I'm going to be giving on Wednesday focuses on the fact that those underlying trends still exist. ... So this is going to be more of a thematic speech, and then we're going to follow it up with a series of more concrete proposals, some of which I've made before, some of which will be new.
"But the key is to try to make sure that this town [!] refocuses on the issues that matter most to people day to day. Because I think a lot of Americans out there, they're watching -- well, they don't watch cable TV [news], but if they did, or they're listening to the talking heads, they would say to themselves, 'This doesn't connect with me and what I'm going through, and what my children are going through.' And so I'm excited about the speech, not because I think the speech is going to change any minds, but because it gives us an opportunity to refocus attention on the thing that the American people sent me to focus on. And some of the proposals that we've put forward are ones that are going to be very difficult to get through this Congress. Of course, everything is very difficult to get through this Congress."
THE REASON PRESIDENT OBAMA is giving an economic address tomorrow (in Galesburg, Ill.), per a briefing by senior administration officials: People feel stable, but not secure. Since the inauguration, the administration has had to deal with the Middle East, gun safety and Snowden, and reporters have given attention to Benghazi and the IRS. So Obama wants to stop, grab the political debate and turn it to what he sees as the most important issue: growing the economy from the middle out, not the top down. Looking ahead to budget battles with Congress this fall, he'll lay out the stakes, but won't get into legislative tactics. He probably won't use the word "sequester," since many listeners wouldn't know what he was talking about.
His remarks will include old ideas, new ideas, things Congress should do, things he can do on his own, and ways he will use the convening power of the presidency to bring together businesses, colleges and others. Any lever that he can pull to help the economy, he will. Then, beginning as soon as next week and continuing through the end of September, Obama will give a steady drumbeat of more specific speeches on the cornerstones of middle-class life, including jobs, housing, education (particularly college), retirement security and health security.
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"But the key is to try to make sure that this town [!] refocuses on the issues that matter most to people day to day. Because I think a lot of Americans out there, they're watching -- well, they don't watch cable TV [news], but if they did, or they're listening to the talking heads, they would say to themselves, 'This doesn't connect with me and what I'm going through, and what my children are going through.' And so I'm excited about the speech, not because I think the speech is going to change any minds, but because it gives us an opportunity to refocus attention on the thing that the American people sent me to focus on. And some of the proposals that we've put forward are ones that are going to be very difficult to get through this Congress. Of course, everything is very difficult to get through this Congress."
THE REASON PRESIDENT OBAMA is giving an economic address tomorrow (in Galesburg, Ill.), per a briefing by senior administration officials: People feel stable, but not secure. Since the inauguration, the administration has had to deal with the Middle East, gun safety and Snowden, and reporters have given attention to Benghazi and the IRS. So Obama wants to stop, grab the political debate and turn it to what he sees as the most important issue: growing the economy from the middle out, not the top down. Looking ahead to budget battles with Congress this fall, he'll lay out the stakes, but won't get into legislative tactics. He probably won't use the word "sequester," since many listeners wouldn't know what he was talking about.
His remarks will include old ideas, new ideas, things Congress should do, things he can do on his own, and ways he will use the convening power of the presidency to bring together businesses, colleges and others. Any lever that he can pull to help the economy, he will. Then, beginning as soon as next week and continuing through the end of September, Obama will give a steady drumbeat of more specific speeches on the cornerstones of middle-class life, including jobs, housing, education (particularly college), retirement security and health security.
Go to POLITICO Playbook Now >> http://www.politico.com/playbook
Go to this edition >> http://www.politico.com/playbook/0713/play...
