Carolyn Kaster - AP
"This is the defining issue of our time," President Barack Obama said of economic inequality to a crowd at Osawatomie High School in Osawatomie, Kansas.
OSAWATOMIE, Kan. -- President Barack Obama delivered a sweeping indictment of economic inequality in the U.S. on Tuesday as he summoned the memory of President Theodore Roosevelt and pledged to fight for fairness at a "make or break moment for the middle class."
Only a month before Republican voters begin choosing a presidential nominee, Obama traveled to small-town Osawatomie, Kan., where Roosevelt delivered his "New Nationalism" address in 1910, to embrace the progressive reformer's calls for a "square deal" for regular Americans.
Obama warned of the unraveling of the American dream and called for giving hurting middle-class workers a fair shake and restoring financial security - themes he's certain to return to throughout the 2012 campaign.
"This isn't just another political debate. This is the defining issue of our time. This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class and all those who are fighting to get into the middle class," Obama told a crowd in the Osawatomie High School gym.
"Because 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," he said.
Taking aim at Republicans, Obama said, "Their philosophy is simple: We are better off when everyone is left to fend for themselves and play by their own rules. Well, I'm here to say they are wrong."
Obama's speech sounded the theme of inequality of income and opportunity, which the White House sees as a major force in current politics, but it was short on new ideas for pulling the country out of its economic doldrums.
For Obama, Tuesday's speech was a chance to lay out a more sweeping philosophy for his re-election campaign.
Noting that the typical CEO now earns 110 times more than his workers, Obama attempted to sum up the pain and peril for a society where the gap between rich and poor is widening and the middle class is struggling.
"This kind of gaping inequality gives lie to the promise at the very heart of America - that this is the place where you can make it if you try," Obama said.
Obama said that the wealthiest should do more - but that the GOP refused to ask them to.
Obama also said he'd be calling for new legislation imposing tougher penalties for Wall Street firms that repeatedly violate anti-fraud laws.
And the president renewed his call on Congress to extend the payroll tax cut.
