Obama Makes Case for Economy at Home by Pointing Overseas

President Barack Obama is making the case for his economic stewardship at home by arguing that the U.S. is showing more progress than other nations.

Obama has struggled to promote his performance amid slow gains in wages and incomes for ordinary Americans. For them, the economy is the preeminent concern even as the news is dominated by the Ebola virus, tensions with Russia, and the fight against Islamic extremists.

A month before the midterm congressional elections, the president is touting the nation’s economic strength in a bid to remind voters how far the U.S. has come since he took office in the midst of the worst slump since the Great Depression.

White House aides say he’ll return to that theme in a speech today in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, presenting a summary of progress over the past six years and proposals to bolster the middle class. Obama will argue that American global leadership stems from economic power in a speech that will offer a new perspective, not a list of new policies.