The Daily Tar Heel
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The Daily Tar Heel

OSAWATOMIE, Kan. (MCT) — President Barack Obama rolled out the major themes of his re-election bid in a speech in which he sought to capture public concern about rising economic inequality and wrap his policies in a call for a “fair shot” for America’s middle class.

“This is a make or break moment for the middle class, and all those who are fighting to get into the middle class. At stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home and secure their retirement.”

The new language, which Obama is expected to repeat often in the months to come, seems designed to directly address voter concerns about inequality.

It pulled together the more populist, harder-hitting themes Obama has tried out during the last couple of months.

To heighten the speech’s impact, White House aides chose a venue with historical and political echoes.
Just over a century ago, Teddy Roosevelt traveled to this same small, eastern Kansas town for one of his best-known addresses.

In it, he laid out his “New Nationalism,” with its call for progressive reforms and an active federal government committed to reining in the power of concentrated wealth.

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