Obama to frame midterms as choice between economic progress and GOP

President Barack Obama will frame the upcoming midterm elections in a speech Wednesday as a choice between the economic progress Democrats want and the Republican policy of tax cuts and deregulation that's been tried before.

"As November approaches, leaders in the other party will campaign furiously on the same economic argument they’ve been making for decades," Obama will say at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa., according excerpts of his prepared remarks. "Fortunately, we don’t have to look back too many years to see how it turns out."

The speech is likely to please Democrats on Capitol Hill, who have pressed Obama to go directly after Republicans instead of blaming Washington in general for slowing down Democratic measures on the economy.

Obama will attack Republicans for their policies over the past decade that included tax cuts for millionaires that weren't paid for, weakened regulations and a failure to curb spending that led to a $1.3 trillion deficit at the start of his presidency.

"We can return to the failed economic policies of the past, or we can keep building a stronger future," Obama said. "We can go backward, or we can keep moving forward. I don’t know about you, but I want to move forward."

The president will tout tax breaks for small businesses and education, healthcare reforms and stronger financial regulations that have been passed by Democrats and opposed by GOP lawmakers.

He will dismiss Republican positions as rooted in "a belief that government has little or no role to play in helping this nation meet our collective challenges."

"It’s an agenda that basically offers two answers to every problem we face: more tax breaks for the wealthy and fewer rules for corporations," Obama said.