Obama takes message on the road

13 February 2013 Last updated at 21:32 GMT Republicans said immigration reform was the only part of Obama's agenda that seemed likely to succeed in Congress US President Obama is visiting three US states to rally support for an increase in the minimum wage and investment in manufacturing and infrastructure.

Barack Obama's tour, which began on Wednesday in North Carolina, follows Tuesday's State of the Union address.

In that speech, he called for measures to strengthen the middle class, as well as gun restrictions, immigration reform, and action on climate change.

But Republicans on Wednesday criticised the proposals as shop-worn and tired.

"An opportunity to bring together the country instead became another retread of lip service and liberalism," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor on Wednesday.

"Last night's speech was a pedestrian liberal boilerplate that any Democratic lawmaker could have given at any time in recent history."

'Our job' Continue reading the main story

The New York Times says Mr Obama "continued trying to define a 21st Century version of liberalism that could outlast his time in office and do for Democrats what Reagan did for Republicans".

Part of that liberalism, the Washington Post says, included Mr Obama's call to "pivot away from the politics of austerity".

Politico called it an "aggressive speech with an even more aggressive message" and says that for the "Republican lawmakers who complain that [President Obama has] been too rough on them already - he's just getting started".

On Senator Marco Rubio's Republican response, Real Clear Politics says he delivered an effective "call for conservatives to govern by their principles and also an appeal to voters who have soured on the GOP in recent years, asking that they give the party another look".

On Wednesday, Mr Obama began a trip that will swing though three states: North Carolina, Georgia and Illinois, in an effort to promote the proposals laid out on Tuesday in his annual State of the Union address.

At a manufacturing plant in Asheville, Mr Obama reiterated his call for the federal minimum wage to rise to $9 (£5.79) per hour from $7.25, saying that Americans who work full time should not live in poverty.

He also touted the facility, run by Canadian company Linamar Corp, as an example of how America could attract jobs from abroad.

"Our job as Americans is to restore that basic bargain that says if you work hard, if you're willing to meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead," he said.

In his speech on Tuesday night, Mr Obama also proposed a raft of new initiatives to improve pre-school programmes, cut waiting times at polling places, boost manufacturing, and reduce energy use.

'Harder to hire' Obama's tour, which began in North Carolina, follows his State of the Union address

Republicans were unimpressed.

Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, one of the Republican Party's biggest stars and its 2012 vice-presidential candidate, said the president "seems to always be in campaign mode".

"He treats people in the other party as enemies rather than partners," he said on CBS News on Wednesday.

House Speaker John Boehner said that immigration reform was the only issue on Mr Obama's State of the Union list that had any chance of passing Congress this year.

And on Wednesday, he criticised the president's minimum wage proposal.

"At a time when the American people are still asking the question, where are the jobs," he said, "why would we want to make it harder for small employers to hire people?"

Mr Obama will travel to Atlanta, Georgia on Thursday and to his hometown of Chicago, Illinois on Friday, urging action on other points on the agenda he laid out on Tuesday.

View the original article here

Romney takes "feel-your-pain" tone as Sandy slams East Coast

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney speaks at a campaign rally in Davenport, Iowa October 29, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder

By Steve Holland

DAVENPORT, Iowa | Mon Oct 29, 2012 8:16pm EDT

DAVENPORT, Iowa (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was about to go on stage in Ohio on Monday when he decided to abruptly shift the tone of his campaign given the potentially lethal impact of Hurricane Sandy on the East Coast.

With the storm bearing down, Romney canceled campaign events scheduled for Monday and Tuesday in Wisconsin, Iowa and Florida. Running mate Paul Ryan and Romney's wife, Ann, also stepped back from campaigning.

Romney instead adopted a feel-your-pain stance, taking time to talk up Americans' hardy can-do spirit in the face of uncertain odds. He urged people to donate to the Red Cross.

After deliberating by conference call with senior advisers - some of them traveling with Ryan and Ann Romney in several states - it was an easy call to make, aides said.

"We canceled the events out of sensitivity for the millions of people facing hardship because of the hurricane," said senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom.

The hurricane was the latest twist in Romney's second White House bid. Before taking on President Barack Obama in the general election campaign, Romney spent months in a bruising Republican primary fight in which he was rarely in the lead until near the end.

The former governor of Massachusetts appeared to have the momentum in the final lap of the presidential race, climbing in polls after recovering from the September release of a secretly recorded video in which he said 47 percent of Americans were dependent on government help.

A NEW TWIST

Now, Romney's campaign luster is likely to dim for a couple of days as Obama wins media attention as the nation's chief executive managing a crisis.

The Republican's aides said they had little choice but to put off campaigning given the storm's potential impact. They did not think Sandy would complicate the campaign's messaging over the next few days.

"I don't think it will at all," said a senior adviser. "While this is certainly important, the potential damage of this hurricane, the importance of the next four years are about bigger things longer term - the economy and jobs."

Aides said the campaign had been watching the storm since it first came into view last week and knew they had to act.

"We monitored the track and developments closely and adjusted our schedule accordingly as the need arose," said senior adviser Kevin Madden.

The hurricane forced the Romney campaign into some fancy footwork.

He had hoped to hold a campaign event on Tuesday in Wisconsin, which has not been won by a Republican presidential candidate in decades. It would back up the Romney camp's narrative that the Midwestern state is now in play given tightening polls there.

But with the storm blasting ashore along the East Coast, Romney made plans to go back to Ohio, the must-win state where he and Obama have been concentrating much of their energies.

In a move that gives him the appearance of being presidential, Romney told supporters he consulted with officials at the National Weather Service and at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He got an update on the progress of the storm, the status of the federal government's efforts to help state and local authorities and potential challenges in the hours and days ahead.

In Avon Lake, Ohio, Romney toned down some of his attacks on Obama and urged Americans to come together.

"We've faced these kinds of challenges before, and as we have, it's interesting how Americans come together, and this looks like another time when we need to come together all across the country," he said.

(Editing by Alistair Bell and Philip Barbara)

View the original article here