By NICK BUDD
Hays Post
LAWRENCE — President Barack Obama dug into his roots on Thursday afternoon at a stop in Lawrence where the president continued to advertise his plan to strengthen the middle class. Obama’s mother was born in Wichita and his grandparents hailed from Augusta and El Dorado.
On Tuesday’s State of the Union address, Obama revealed his plans to strengthen the middle class by cutting child care costs, providing tax breaks to working families and offering two free years of community college.
“Are we willing to accept an economy where only a few of us do spectacularly well or do we generate an economy that generates opportunities and higher incomes for everybody who’s willing to work hard and make an effort? That’s a choice we have to make,” Obama said.
Obama also touted the successful economy, which includes lower gas prices, more jobs and the reversal of some of the outsourcing.
“Every step we we’re told that our plans would explode deficits, crush jobs or destroy the economy,” Obama said to the audience of nearly 10,000. “But we’ve seen the fastest economic growth in over a decade, we’ve seen deficits cut by more than two-thirds, and people’s 401(k)s are in better shape because the stock market has doubled.
“The ruling on the field stands: Middle-class economics works,” Obama added.
With that, Obama challenged congressional leaders to work with him over the next two years of his term. He promised he would veto any legislation that would aim to stop the growth of the economy, but said he’s willing to compromise.
“I don’t mind saying ‘no’ to everything but, at some point, you’ve gotta say ‘yes’ to something,” Obama said. “Let’s get to ‘yes’ on helping more families get by, I want to get to ‘yes’ on child care, and I want to get to ‘yes’ on more young people going to college and not being loaded up with debt.”
Obama spent the morning at a Lawrence Children’s Center before heading to a KU Sports Complex for his appearance. He also met with the Kansas men’s basketball team while he was in Lawrence.
Steven Seltman, a Larned sophomore at KU, waited hours in line for tickets and said the wait was worth it.
“A lot of people who live in western Kansas are in the middle class, but at the same time, these are issues that apply to everybody,” he said. “They’re pretty universal.”
