Obama: Voters agreed with me

President Barack Obama’s first post-election radio address centered on the themes he pushed in his speeches in Chicago Tuesday and in the East Room Friday.

Obama couched his reelection victory as giving him the authority to focus on job creation his way, with protections for the middle class and deficit reduction paid for by the nation’s wealthiest. The way to avert the year-end fiscal cliff, he said, is the very proposal he has been making for months on the campaign trail.


“The message you sent was clear: You voted for action, not politics as usual,” he said. “You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours.”

As he has this week, Obama said he’s open to compromise within limits. He won’t accept increases in what the middle class pays in federal taxes or reduced aid for specific groups of people.

“I refuse to accept any approach that isn’t balanced,” he said. “I will not ask students or seniors or middle-class families to pay down the entire deficit while people making over $250,000 aren’t asked to pay a dime more in taxes. This was a central question in the election. And on Tuesday, we found out that the majority of Americans agree with my approach — that includes Democrats, independents and Republicans.”

Obama called for Republicans in Congress to extend the Bush tax cuts for only the first $250,000 of income. Republicans have blocked such an extension because it does not include income above that threshold.

“This is something we all agree on,” he said. “Even as we negotiate a broader deficit-reduction package, Congress should extend middle-class tax cuts right now. It’s a step that would give millions of families and 97 percent of small businesses the peace of mind that will lead to new jobs and faster growth. There’s no reason to wait.”

Obama said he was elected to deliver “action. That’s what I plan to deliver in my second term, and I expect to find leaders from both parties willing to join me.”

House Speaker John Boehner, with whom Obama will have to negotiate any deal to avert the fiscal cliff, said in the Republican response that allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire and sequestration defense cuts to take place would “destroy 700,000 American jobs.”

Boehner said instead of tax hikes Congress and Obama should “focus on tax reform that closes special interest loopholes and lowers tax rates.”

“Shoring up entitlements and reforming the Tax Code — closing special interest loopholes and deductions, and moving to a fairer, cleaner and simpler system — will bring jobs home and result in a stronger, healthier economy,” Boehner said. “A stronger economy means more revenue — which is exactly what the president is seeking. And without a strong economy, we’ll never be able to balance the budget and erase our country’s debt.”