Post from Erica Sagrans's Blog: Obama and Kaine on What's at Stake in November

Post from Erica Sagrans's Blog: Obama and Kaine on What's at Stake in November

By Erica Sagrans - Sep 9, 2010 10:30:20 AM ET

Also listed in: 2010 HQ Blog

President Obama and Democratic Party Chairman Tim Kaine each gave major speeches yesterday—laying out the choice voters face in November and what’s at stake in this election. Both addresses drew strong contrasts between the work of Democrats to move our country and economy forward, and Republicans who want to take us back to the failed policies that got our country into trouble to begin with.

Check out some of the news on the President in Cleveland and Chairman Kaine in Philadelphia:

New York Times: “Obama Lays Out Economic Proposals and Assails G.O.P.”

Unveiling his economic agenda for the fall campaign in a lengthy and sharply populist speech that sought to appeal to the middle class, Mr. Obama also urged voters not to allow Republicans to “ride” fears about the economy into the election booths in the midterm elections in November. Mr. Obama acknowledged that “people are frustrated and angry and anxious about the future.” But he argued that a Republican return to power would lead to a repeat of failed policies of the past. “A lot has changed since I came here in those final days of the last election,” Mr. Obama told a largely sympathetic crowd of around 3,000 at the Cuyahoga Community College campus in Parma, a Cleveland suburb. “But what hasn’t is the choice facing this country. It’s still fear versus hope; the past versus the future. It’s still a choice between sliding backward and moving forward.”

Politico: “Obama: Boehner has ‘no new ideas’”

President Barack Obama, fighting to preserve his party’s control of Congress, laid out his battle plan on Wednesday, drawing sharp distinctions between his vision to rebuild the nation’s economy — and the struggling middle class — and Republican economic policies, which he said triggered last year’s financial meltdown.… In a blunt critique to Boehner’s economic policy speech in Cleveland last month, the president declared, “There were no new policies from Mr. Boehner. There were no new ideas.”

ABC News: “Obama attacks John Boehner, GOP’s economic vision”

In a starkly political speech President Obama assailed House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-OH, by name eight times today, attacking the Republicans economic philosophy as flawed and weak, attempting to define the choice that people have in November’s election....The president defined the Republican economic philosophy as, “Cut taxes, especially for millionaires and billionaires.  Cut regulations for special interests.  Cut trade deals even if they didn’t benefit our workers.  Cut back on investments in our people and our future.”

Politico: “Kaine: Don't count out 'underdog'”

In his first major speech of the fall campaign season, Kaine emphasized his party's legislative accomplishments while acknowledging a tough road ahead. Kaine told a group of students and supporters at the University of Pennsylvania Wednesday afternoon that "We campaign tough, we win tough, we govern tough. We've always been the underdog party and we're always gonna be the underdog party."  In his speech, Kaine outlined the Democrats' fall strategy by imagining America under Republican control - and in the process, made the some of the starkest contrasts yet between the two parties.  "That's our choice - to do what it takes to move Americans forward together," he said. "Republicans have made their choice - to stand with the special interests and stand up for the failed policies of the recent past, or the distant past."

Washington Post: "Tim Kaine urges Democrats to 'have the president's back' in midterms"

Democratic Party Chairman Tim Kaine  delivered a full-throated defense of his party's record on the economy, health care and financial regulation here Wednesday as he kicked off the fall campaign season with a speech casting the Democrats as underdogs in the battle for control of Congress. Kaine, a former Virginia governor, sharpened his critique of the Republican Party and warned that President Obama's agenda is in jeopardy if Democrats lose their congressional majorities.