Q Can I ask you about the President's speech tomorrow? Why is he channeling Teddy Roosevelt?
MR. CARNEY: Well, because President Teddy Roosevelt -- Theodore Roosevelt gave an historic speech in Osawatomie -- is that correct? -- Osawatomie, Kansas -- it's one of those words you've read but you're not sure you've ever pronounced -- 111 years ago, if I'm correct in my calculations. And the point that the President is making by speaking in the same location and -- is that the ideas that President Roosevelt put forward about the need for Americans of all kinds to get a fair shot and a fair shake are very much at issue today.
And the President's speech will encapsulate the debates that we've been having this year over our economic policy and over our economic future. So he thinks it's an opportune time and an opportune location to really try to put into broader perspective the kind of debates we've been having and the issues that are of vital importance to building an economic future in this country in his mind that gives middle-class Americans the kind of fair shake and fair shot that they deserve.
Q And who is not giving them a fair shake or a fair shot?
MR. CARNEY: Well, I think it's abundantly clear, and was clear even prior to this most recent economic crisis, that the middle class in this country has been squeezed for a long time, and most especially in the last decade and -- in the decade, rather, prior to this President coming into office.
So this has been an issue that has animated this President even before he was sworn into office. It was really the reason why he ran for President, as he articulated many times in the 2008 campaign. And it is the focus of his work here in office, the need to do everything he can through Congress, through his executive authorities, to help the middle class expand, and help those who aspire to the middle class gain access to it.
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