

December 04, 2013|Reuters

By Mark Felsenthal

WASHINGTON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Seeking to recover from the
bungled rollout of his healthcare reforms, President Barack
Obama went back to basics on Wednesday with a renewed focus on
government policies that benefit the struggling poor and middle

"The combined trends of increased inequality and decreasing
mobility pose a fundamental threat to the American dream, our

With his job approval ratings sinking, Obama sought to
promote some of the ideals he has championed throughout his
presidency. The Democratic president cast his political agenda
in terms of a broad fight to improve economic opportunity in
ways that benefit all Americans.

"We have to relentlessly push a growth agenda," Obama told a
supportive crowd at a community center in one of the capital's
poorest neighborhoods. "A relentlessly growing deficit of
opportunity is a bigger threat to our future than our rapidly
shrinking fiscal deficit."

He challenged Republicans in Congress to do more than say
'no' to initiatives including raising the minimum wage or
expanding health coverage: offer alternatives and set aside a
preoccupation with cutting government spending.

for," he said.

Obama's proposals to promote economic growth by increasing
spending on things like infrastructure building, hiring teachers
and raising the minimum wage have been handcuffed by
Republicans, who say bloated government gets in the way of
stronger economic growth. With the opposition party in control
of the House of Representatives, Obama and his Democrats have
little hope of accomplishing goals that require legislation.

The gridlock was reflected a poll released Wednesday by
Harvard's Institute of Politics that showed young Americans are
unhappy with virtually every major thing Obama has done since he
was re-elected last year. Most in the 18- to 29-year-old age
group - Obama's traditional support base - cited the economy as
their top concern. But their disapproval ratings were higher for
both Republicans and Democrats in Congress.

In the meantime, the disastrous launch of the website to
sign up for insurance under the Affordable Care Act has hurt the
president's credibility and his approval ratings are hovering
just below 40 percent. The setback raised concerns among
Democratic lawmakers that the 2010 health law, known as
Obamacare, will be an albatross around their necks in next
November's election.

But the White House said this week the problematic website,, was working much better and that visits to the
site and enrollments in health insurance plans have picked up.

The administration is trying to move beyond the early
technical problems and advertise the benefits of the law.

On Tuesday, Obama sought to frame the program in the broader
context of economic stability for all Americans.

"I've acknowledged more than once that we didn't roll out
parts of this law as well as we should have," he said. "But the
law's already working in major ways that benefit millions of
Americans right now."

The president's hopes of raising the minimum wage are likely
to face resistance in Congress and elsewhere.

The right-leaning American Action Forum released a study
this week arguing the minimum wage would do little to lift
poverty, in part because the vast majority of wage earners are
not in poverty and because a third of minimum wage earners are
teenagers in well-off families.