Obama frames the debate for the midterms.

Sometimes I just like the message.

Mr. Obama in Wednesday's speech:

"I ran for president because for much of the last decade, a very specific governing
philosophy had reigned about how America should work: Cut taxes, especially for millionaires and billionaires. Cut regulations for special interests. Cut trade deals even if they didn't benefit our workers. Cut back on investments in our people and in our future—in education and clean energy, in research and technology. The idea was that if we just had blind faith in the market, if we let corporations play by their own rules, if we left everyone else to fend for themselves that America would grow and America would prosper."

Mr. Obama then described his alternative view:

"But in the words of the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, I also believe that government should do for the people what they cannot do better for themselves. And that means making the long-term investments in this country's future that individuals and corporations can't make on their own: investments in education and clean energy, in basic research and technology and infrastructure."

So Mr. Obama calls for a government prodding the economy forward.

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