White House: Escalating Inequality Under Obama Is What’s Motivating His Economic Speeches

WH's Earnest: Income Inequality Under Obama Is "What's Motivating" Him To Give Speeches On The Economy (RealClearPolitics)

ED HENRY: Last thing, talking about the president’s economic tour coming back tomorrow and you say the focus is on the middle class, Pew had a study back in April about the recovery from 2009 to now, and it was saying that, basically, under the president’s policies the rich have gotten richer; the middle class has seen incomes shrinking, as the President himself says out there. This study also said that the rich got even richer in the Bush years, by the way. But the point being, how do you go out and make the case and say that this tour is about helping the middle class when in fact the middle class has seen the rich get richer over the last four years?

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE: Well, I think because of the studies that you’re citing there, that's actually what’s motivating the president’s speech, or the comments that the president has made over the last few days.