Obama Pledges Push to Lift Economy for Middle Class

President Barack Obama, seeking to put the prosperity and promise of the middle class at the heart of his second-term agenda, called on Congress on Tuesday night to raise federal minimum wage to $9 an hour, saying would lift millions out of poverty and energize economy. In an assertive State of the Union address that fleshed out populist themes of his inauguration speech, Mr. Obama declared it was “our generation’s task” to “reignite the true engine of America’s economic growth, a rising, thriving middle class.” “Every day”, “we should ask ourselves 3 questions as a nation: How do we attract more jobs to our shores? How do we equip our people with the skills to get those jobs? How do we make sure that hard work leads to a decent living?” Increase in the minimum wage, from $7.25 an hour now, was most tangible of a raft of initiatives laid out by president, from education and energy to public works projects. Taken together, Mr. Obama said, these investments would accelerate the nation’s recovery by helping those in the broad middle class. Raising minimum wage holds particular political appeal for younger Americans, struggling workers, labor groups, all of which were important to Mr. Obama’s re-election. His proposal drew one of loudest ovations of the evening from Democrats in the House chamber. Speaking to a divided Congress, with many Republicans still smarting from his November victory, Mr. Obama declared, “Together, we have cleared away the rubble of crisis, we can say with renewed confidence that the state of our union is stronger.” Urged lawmakers to act on immigration, climate change, budget negotiations, above all, on gun violence, delivering an emotional appeal for stricter controls that drew on recent tragedies like the schoolhouse massacre in Newtown. “They deserve a vote,” Obama declared over and over, gesturing to victims of various shootings, who were scattered through the audience. Mr. Obama took the podium after a rousing welcome from lawmakers and other dignitaries. But the millions of TV viewers, not to mention people glancing at their smartphones inside the chamber, were distracted by a manhunt across the country, where police in California were tracking a suspect in killing of officers and others. News coverage concentrated on the search almost up to the point the president entered the chamber, immediately after he finished, networks cut away to continue the reporting on the events in California. Republicans quickly rejected Obama’s activist approach, saying it would inevitably translate into higher taxes, an overweening government role, strangling economic growth and deepening the nation’s fiscal hole (…..)

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/us/politics/obama-delivers-state-of-the-union-address.html