Obama Strikes Populist Chord With Speech on G.O.P. Turf

By artappraiser on Tue, 12/06/2011 - 9:55pm |

By A. G. Sulzberger, New York Times, Dec. 6/7, 2011

The speech, and the days of buildup that preceded it, marked the president’s most stark attack so far on what he described as “breathtaking greed.”

OSAWATOMIE, Kan. — Laying out a populist argument for his re-election next year, President Obama ventured into the conservative heartland on Tuesday to deliver his most pointed appeal yet for a strong governmental role through tax and regulation to level the economic playing field. [....]

Infusing his speech with the moralistic language that has emerged in the Occupy protests around the nation, [....]

Also see:

Text: Obama’s Speech in Kansas

URL:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/07/us/politics/obama-strikes-populist-chord-with-speech-in-heartland.html

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Comments

Washington Post:

Obama invokes a Roosevelt in assailing GOP

NPR:

Obama Tries Using TR As Big Stick Against GOP Opponents

ABC News:

Obama Channels Roosevelt’s Populist Agenda: This Is ‘Make or Break Moment’ For Middle Class

Reuters @ guardian.co.uk:

Barack Obama portrays himself as champion of the middle class in Kansas speech echoing Roosevelt address 100 years ago

CNN (John Avlon):

Why Obama is listening to Teddy Roosevelt for 2012

by artappraiser on Tue, 12/06/2011 - 10:19pm

Invoking Teddy Roosevelt, Obama Finds His Voice,
By John Cassidy, The New Yorker, December 6

First an admission: just before President Obama followed in the footsteps of Theodore Roosevelt and went to Osawatomie, Kansas to deliver a populist speech about inequality and the middle class, I had prepared a post criticizing the White House for having the temerity to compare him, at least implicitly, to one of America’s truly great Presidents. [....]

by artappraiser on Tue, 12/06/2011 - 10:28pm

Fox News:

Obama Makes Campaign-Style Speech, Pitching Populist Vision of America

RedState.com:

Reviewing Obama’s sparsely-attended class warfare speech… oh, SUGAR.

by artappraiser on Tue, 12/06/2011 - 10:15pm