Obama's Plan: Drag Your Attention Back to Economy

Natural disasters, political scandals, and stories ranging from the Middle East to Trayvon Martin have diverted the national conversation away from the economy, and President Obama is launching an effort to bring it back. The administration is planning a new batch of speeches—up to six, with the first one tomorrow and the series lasting some two months. Obama is hoping to take credit for an economy that's slowly grown for more than four years as Americans show renewed hope about their financial futures, the New York Times reports.

The administration is under no impression that the speeches will sway Republicans in Congress, nor will they contain a specific list of instructions for Congress; rather, they look to restart a national dialogue on Obama's longstanding economic goals as nasty budget negotiations with Congress loom in the fall. Republicans say the effort is more of the same from the president, and wonder why he's putting speeches ahead of Capitol Hill negotiations. "It’s a cliché, but if all you’ve got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail," says a rep for John Boehner. "They don’t know how to do anything else." (More President Obama stories.)