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WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama Tuesday stressed his "most urgent task" is to restore the American economy and get the unemployed back to work.
In a prime-time speech focused mainly on Iraq, Obama also sought to reassure Americans about his commitment to tackle the country's economic woes, highlighting lingering concerns about stubbornly high unemployment and sluggish growth.
"Today, our most urgent task is to restore our economy, and put the millions of Americans who have lost their jobs back to work," said Obama, whose Democratic Party fears a trouncing in November's midterm elections.
"To strengthen our middle class, we must give all our children the education they deserve, and all our workers the skills that they need to compete in a global economy."
The president called on citizens to show innovation and jump-start industries that create new jobs, while stressing the need for America to wean itself off its "dependence on foreign oil."
"We must unleash the innovation that allows new products to roll off our assembly lines, and nurture the ideas that spring from our entrepreneurs," Obama said.
"This will be difficult. But in the days to come, it must be our central mission as a people, and my central responsibility as president."
He added soldiers returning home from Iraq must be given the chance to "apply their gifts to expand the American economy."
With US unemployment rates hovering near double digits, and Americans showing little sign of restarting pre-crisis spending, the health of the economy looks set to be a major issue during the November elections.
Polls repeatedly show voters are skeptical about the fate of the economic recovery, while questioning Obama's trillion-dollar efforts to propel the United States out of recession.
The White House's Republican foes have sought to capitalise on those concerns by pointing to the still moribund employment and housing sectors and high levels of public debt as evidence of Obama's inability to turn the economy around.
-AFP/wk
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