WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama was upbeat and cheerful as he denounced the GOP for blocking a minimum wage increase Wednesday.
“If they keep putting politics ahead of working Americans, you’ll put them out of office,” he declared at the televised p.r. event, which quickly turned into a campaign-style rally inside the White House.
“Change is happening whether Republicans in Congress like it or not… get fired up, get organized, make your voices heard, and rest assured I’m going to keep working with you,” he said, shortly after all but one Republican Senator refused to support a mandated wage increase to $10.10 per hour.
The rally ended with as his picked audience of Democratic legislators, staffers and advocates in the White House’s East Room chanted “Raise the Wage! Raise the Wage!”
Raising the minimum wage “is the right thing to do,” Obama insisted, while repeating the poll-tested “10.10” phrase several times.
Obama’s speech came on the same day that government reports showed that Obama’s economy grew by merely 0.1 percent in the first quarter of 2014.
The proposed minimum-wage increase is one of the primary planks in Obama’s 2014 campaign, and it likely aimed at with single women, Latinos and African-Americans.
Republicans “told Americans that you’re on your own, without even looking them in the eye,” he said.
“Either you’re in favor is raising wages for hard-working Americans, or you’re not,” he said.
Obama even exploited the growing wealth-gap caused by his policies to demand a regulated wage-increase. “At a time when those at the top are doing better than ever… three of our four Americans understand that Americans deserve a raise,” he said.
A recent ABC/WashingtonPost poll shows that Obama’s support has dropped to 41 percent, but also that voters generally trust Democrats to aid middle-class people and women. That’s problem for the GOP, where wealthy donors tend to favor policies that aid investors rather than workers and families.