U.S. President Barack Obama has officially started his re-election campaign at a rally in Ohio.
Mr. Obama told an enthusiastic crowd at Ohio State University in the state capital, Columbus, that America has had a tough time rebounding from a deep recession. But he said it has come too far to turn back now.
He said his rival Republican Mitt Romney would “rubber stamp” what he called the failed Republican policies. Instead, he said of his administration, ” We are not going back. We are moving this country forward.”
Mr. Obama portrayed the former governor of Massachusetts as being too out touch with the average American, and too close to conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives. He said this election “is a make-or-break moment for the middle class.”
Mr. Obama faces a re-election fight in a polarized nation haunted by unemployment and sluggish economic growth. The economic problems he inherited and has struggled to solve are now part of his first term record.
The president held a second rally later Saturday in Virginia's state capital, Richmond.