Obama blasts Republicans for 'worn-out' ideas

WASHINGTON, Sept 25, AFP President Barack Obama on Saturday blasted "worn-out" Republican plans to regain control of Congress in upcoming legislative elections, warning they would lead to another "disastrous decade."

Reacting for the first time to his political foes' "Pledge for America" agenda unveiled this week, the Democratic president said their ideas were similar to those that plunged the United States into its worst recession in decades.

In their manifesto, Republicans vowed to stop "job-killing tax hikes," cut government spending, end bail-outs and repeal health care reforms, laying out a vision aimed at winning over independent voters and energizing the party's base. Obama warned these measures are "grounded in the same worn-out philosophy: cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires; cut the rules for Wall Street and the special interests and cut the middle class loose to fend for itself."

"That's not a prescription for a better future. It's an echo of a disastrous decade we can't afford to relive," he added in his weekly radio and Internet address.

Obama was echoing a charge he has made in nearly each one of speeches aimed at domestic audiences in recent weeks to condemn Republican obstruction in Congress on the eve of November's mid-term elections. His fellow Democrats are poised to suffer big losses in the vote amid a souring economy and voter frustration with Obama's failure to fulfill the many promises he has made to his electorate. Although Republicans are in the minority in both houses of Congress, their 41 seats in the Senate are sufficient to allow them to block Obama's reforms.

Seeking to portray Republicans as tone-deaf, Obama said "America may be speaking out, but Republicans in Congress sure aren't listening." Ahead of the November 2 vote, Republicans have been making significant gains, while Obama and other Democrats have suffered in the polls amid a grim economic outlook and an unemployment rate that has stubbornly hovered around 10 percent for months.