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Obama launches campaign offensive in Roosevelt’s shadow

President Barack Obama delivered a sweeping indictment of economic inequality in the U.S. on Tuesday, laying out a theme that will shape his re-election campaign next year.

OSAWATOMIE, Kan. — President Barack Obama delivered a sweeping indictment of economic inequality in the U.S. on Tuesday, laying out a theme that will shape his re-election campaign next year.

While Republicans are looking to keep Obama on the defensive over the weak U.S. economy, Obama has been attacking them for refusing to allow tax increases on the wealthiest Americans as part of a plan to reduce the deficit.

Republicans, including presidential front-runners Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, argue that tax increases stifle job-creation and have accused Obama of pursuing class-warfare.

Obama’s appearance in the small midwestern town of Osawatomie, Kansas, came exactly four weeks before the Republicans hold their first nominating contest, the Iowa caucuses.

Polls show Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, taking the lead. He is the latest in a series of candidates to challenge Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, who had been the presumed front-runner for most of the race.

The location of the speech had significance because it was where notable Republican president Theodore Roosevelt in 1910 called for a “square deal” for Americans.

Obama contrasted Roosevelt’s efforts to break up monopolies and stop child labour, to the views of today’s Republicans who believe the government is too powerful.

Obama took aim at the Republicans, saying they would only return the same structures that led to America’s economic downturn. “Their philosophy is simple: We are better off when everyone is left to fend for themselves and play by their own rules,” Obama said.

“I’m here to say they are wrong.”

The president conceded that the country is in the midst of a consuming re-examination on his watch, prompting national movements against both government spending and an economy that many feel disproportionately favours the elite. Obama went on the offensive about income equality, saying it distorts democracy and derails the American dream.

Responding to those who want to cut taxes and regulation in the belief success will trickle down, Obama said: “Here’s the problem: It doesn’t work. It’s never worked.”

Obama noted that Theodore Roosevelt was called a “radical, a socialist, even a communist” for putting forth ideas in his last campaign such as an eight-hour work day, a minimum wage for women, unemployment insurance and a progressive income tax.

Left unsaid: Roosevelt’s Bull Moose campaign in 1912 failed to return him to the White House.

“In the end,” he said, “rebuilding this economy based on fair play, a fair shot and a fair share will require all of us to see the stake we have in each other’s success.”