(BOSTON HERALD)
By Barack Obama
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been talking about what we need to do to secure a better bargain for middle-class families in Boston and all across the country — to make sure that anyone who works hard can get ahead in the 21st century economy.
As a nation, we’ve fought our way back from the worst recession of our lifetimes and begun to lay a new foundation for stronger, more durable economic growth. Today, our businesses have created 7.3 million new jobs over the last 41 months. We now sell more products made in America to the rest of the world than ever before. Health care costs are growing at the slowest rate in 50 years, and our deficits are falling at the fastest rate in 60 years.
But as any middle-class family will tell you, we’re not where we need to be yet. Even before the crisis hit, we were living through a decade where a few at the top were doing better and better, while most families were working harder and harder just to get by.
Reversing this trend must be Washington’s highest priority. It’s certainly mine. But too often in the past two years, Washington has taken its eye off the ball, allowing an endless parade of political posturing and phony scandals to distract from growing the economy and the middle class.
