Obama turns focus to economy, vowing to revitalize middle-class

U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday urged the Congress to bolster the economy, arguing for investments and initiatives to strengthen middle-class Americans. "With an endless parade of distractions, political posturing and phony scandals, Washington has taken its eye off the ball. And I am here to say this needs to stop," according to his remarks prepared for delivery at Galesburg, Illinois. Obama made the first of his series of speeches on Wednesday to lay out his vision for economic growth. "Our focus must be on the basic economic issues that matter the most to you - the people we represent," he added. Obama used the occasion to try to turn the country's focus to economy while claiming credit for the progress made since depression. "Today, five years after the start of that Great Recession, America has fought its way back," he said, citing the recovery of the auto industry, growth in energy sectors, higher taxes on the wealthy, tighter rules on banks and 7.2 million more private sector jobs over the past 40 months. He also noted middle-class Americans have not benefited enough from the recovery and called the growing inequality as "bad economics", saying "That's why reversing these trends must be Washington's highest priority." Hoping to negotiate a budget deal in the face of a hostile Congress, Obama ratcheted up pressure on Republicans who were trying to obstruct his initiatives. "We've seen a sizable group of Republican lawmakers suggest they wouldn't vote to pay the very bills that Congress rang up - a fiasco that harmed a fragile recovery in 2011, and one we can't afford to repeat," Obama said. "Then, rather than reduce our deficits with a scalpel - by cutting programs we don't need, fixing ones we do, and making government more efficient - this same group has insisted on leaving in place a meat cleaver called the sequester that has cost jobs, harmed growth, hurt our military, and gutted investments in American education and scientific and medical research that we need to make this country a magnet for good jobs," he added. Obama called for Washington to make the investments necessary to promote long-term growth and shared prosperity, like rebuilding manufacturing base, educating the workforce, and upgrading the transportation and information networks. That's what we need to be talking about. That's what Washington needs to be focused on." He warned that he "will not allow gridlock or inaction or willful indifference to get in our way." In a brief speech on the House floor, House Speaker John Boehner dismissed Obama's speech as "an Easter Egg with no candy in it." "The White House says it's not expected to say anything new, and there are no new proposals in this speech. The president himself said it isn't going to change any minds," he said.