Obama: Choice is to move ahead or fall back

July 9, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo.

President Barack Obama on Thursday cast upcoming elections as a choice between the party that caused the economic meltdown and the one that’s fixing it, seizing on a populist, sharply partisan theme for the critical November midterms.

“We don’t have to guess how the other party will govern because we’re still living with the results from the last time they governed,” Obama said at a fundraiser for Missouri Democratic Senate hopeful Robin Carnahan in Kansas City. “It’s a choice between falling backward and moving forward.”

Helped by recent gaffes by Republicans, Obama has arrived at the message he’ll employ as he campaigns more frequently and aggressively around the country for Democratic candidates.

In the case of Carnahan, Missouri’s secretary of state, Obama said she would support forward-looking policies while her likely opponent, GOP Rep. Roy Blunt, would drag the country backward. The two are contesting the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Kit Bond, and Carnahan represents a chance for a much-needed Democratic pickup.

Obama intended to sound the same themes at fundraisers later Thursday in Nevada for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Reid is in trouble in his bid for a fifth term, with joblessness sky-high in Nevada and a sitting president’s party typically poised to lose congressional seats during midterm elections.

For both Democrats, Obama’s newly honed message turned the man who pledged during his campaign to bridge partisan divides into a president who has begun playing into them.

For instance, the president repeated his attacks on Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, who had to apologize for apologizing to BP PLC, the primary owner of the blown-out well spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico, and House Minority Leader John Boehner, who contends his metaphor likening the financial crisis to an “ant” is being twisted by Democrats.

Obama listed Republican policies he said led to economic disaster: lower taxes for millionaires and billionaires, fewer rules and regulations for the biggest corporations, and decisions that “cut working people loose.”

Using a populist-themed refrain, he offer this description of the GOP approach: “You don’t have health insurance? Tough luck, you’re on your own. Can’t afford to send your kids to college? Tough luck, on your own.”

His jabs grew sharper as his remarks closed, saying Republicans care more about political points than “what it means for the next generation” and side with corporate titans over regular Americans.