Obama sees Democratic pain if vote just on economy

CLEVELAND - Democrats risk punishment in November's congressional elections if they allow the vote to be about the U.S. economy rather than the two parties' policies, President Barack Obama said yesterday.

"My challenge, and the challenge of every Democratic candidate who is out there, is just making sure people understand that there is a choice here," Obama told ABC News in an interview taped earlier in Cleveland. The interview airs today on ABC's "Good Morning America."

"If the election is a referendum on 'are people satisfied about the economy as it currently is?' then we're not going to do well, because I think everybody feels like this economy needs to do better than it has been doing," Obama said in the interview.

At a community college near Cleveland yesterday, the president laid out a sweeping argument for retaining Democrats and punishing Republicans in the midterm elections, calling on voters to reject economic policies advanced by the GOP that he said favor millionaires at the expense of struggling families.

Obama admitted his economic policies had not worked as quickly as hoped, but said his party and proposals were still better placed to boost the U.S. economy. He said the country could not afford to extend Bush-era tax cuts for the rich and accused Republicans of being fiscally irresponsible. The speech rolled out $180 billion in new construction and tax credits meant to spur investment and research.

But the address also represented an intensifying campaign by Obama to discredit Republicans and craft a roadmap for Democrats confronting a potentially disastrous election cycle likely to cost them congressional seats. Obama singled out House Republican leader Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, an architect of a Republican strategy Obama said aims to obstruct his agenda and to restore policies from the Bush era, including tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans.

Republicans criticized the address, though many GOP lawmakers have generally supported Obama's economic proposals. Obama's proposal for an immediate tax write-off of new equipment purchases for businesses was a centerpiece of Sen. John McCain's tax proposals during his 2008 presidential campaign. And GOP lawmakers have routinely supported extending the popular tax credit for business research and development.

Even so, experts questioned whether the inconsistency will win political points for Obama or the Democrats. "So, Republicans are going to filibuster the R&D credit even though they supported it," said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington. "I just think it's way below the vast majority of voters."

More evidence of a weakening economy came just as Obama began his speech: The Federal Reserve's latest survey of economic conditions in the nation found "widespread signs of a deceleration" in late summer compared with earlier this year.