Obama Pitches Tax, Jobs Ideas on Campaign-style Tour

President Barack Obama began a campaign-style swing through political battleground states on Wednesday, pitching his State of the Union initiatives on taxes and jobs as he made his case for a second term.

Fresh from his election-year speech to Congress, Obama amplified his proposals for rewarding companies that keep jobs at home and eliminating tax breaks for those that outsource overseas. He also pressed his argument for higher taxes on the rich.

Obama used his last State of the Union speech before the November election to cast himself as a champion of the middle class, but with polls showing most Americans unhappy with his economic leadership he faces a tough re-election challenge.

Embarking on a three-day, five-state tour starting in Iowa, Obama defended his record and sought to turn up the heat on Republicans in Congress he has accused of obstructing his economic recovery efforts.

“There are people in Washington who seem to have collective amnesia. They seem to have forgotten how we got into this mess,” Obama told workers at a conveyor belt factory in Iowa. “They want to go back to the very same policies … that have stacked the deck against middle-class Americans for years.”

Republicans have accused Obama of promoting the “politics of envy” and pursuing policies that kill jobs and hinder growth. (FL)