President Barack Obama is doing his best Theodore Roosevelt imitation today in Osawatomie, Kan.—the same place where Roosevelt delivered his “New Nationalism” address in 1910—as he continues his push to extend a payroll tax cut for working families. Promoting a vision of economic fairness for the nation’s middle class that parallels Roosevelt’s calls for a “square deal” more than a century ago, Obama intends to use today’s speech in the small Kansas town to lay out economic themes of giving middle-class workers a fair shake and greater financial security—concepts the president is sure to return to often during the 2012 campaign. Only a month before Republican voters begin choosing a presidential nominee, the White House says Obama would describe this as a “make-or-break moment” for the middle class, as well as for those hoping to join it. Obama is pressuring Congress to support an extension of a payroll tax cut that the White House says will give a $1,000 in tax relief to a typical family earning $50,000 a year. The president is coupling this drive with efforts to renew a program of extended unemployment benefits set to expire Dec. 31. One of Obama’s main Republican rivals, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, said Monday in a radio interview that he would like to see the payroll tax cut extended “because I know that working families are really feeling the pinch right now.” Many Republicans, however, remain opposed to extending the tax break because the Democrats’ plan for funding it includes a surtax on income over $1 million a year.
Today’s poll question: Do you support a surtax on income over $1 million to help pay for an extension of the payroll tax cut?
