Tim Pawlenty Poised to Rip Obama's Economic Record

Tom Williams/Roll Call/Getty Images(CHICAGO) -- Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty will head to President Obama's old stomping grounds at the University of Chicago on Tuesday to bash him as "a champion practitioner of class warfare" and to unveil his own economic plan.

"Regrettably, President Obama is a champion practitioner of class warfare.  Elected with a call for unity and hope, he has spent three years dividing our nation, fanning the flames of class envy and resentment to deflect attention from his own failures and the economic hardship they have visited on America," Pawlenty plans to say, according to excerpts of his remarks released Monday night.

The former Minnesota governor will say that America's entrepreneurs "have been discouraged and weighed down by President Obama’s big government and heavy-handed regulations."  Pawlenty wants to set "a big, positive goal" of growing the nation's economy by five percent.

“Such a national economic growth target will set our sights on a positive future and inspire the actions needed to reach it," he will say.  "By the way, five percent growth is not some pie-in-the-sky number.  We’ve done it before, and with the right policies, we can do it again.”

Pawlenty on Tuesday will also propose to cut the business tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent and eliminate special-interest handouts and subsidies.  In addition, he wants to give small businesses the option of paying at the corporate rate.

“On the individual rates we need a simpler, fairer flatter tax system overall," he will say.  "I propose just two rates: 10 percent and 25 percent.  Under my plan, those who currently pay no income tax would stay at a zero rate.  After that, the first $50,000 of income -- or $100,000 for married couples -- would be taxed at 10 percent."

“Everything above that would be taxed at 25 percent.  That’s it.  A one-third cut in the bottom rate to allow younger, middle, and lower-income families to save and build wealth.  And a 28 percent cut in the top rate to spur investment and job creation."

In the speech at the school where Obama used to teach, Pawlenty plans to tout his record as Minnesota governor when he "cut state spending in real terms for the first time in our state’s history."  He will also rip the president's health care reform bill for leaving the country's private health care market "in intensive care, with a bad prognosis," as well as the Wall Street reform bill for not resolving the problem of government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Pawlenty is set to deliver the speech Tuesday at 11 a.m. ET.  The University of Chicago is also the destination for Obama's chief economic adviser, Austan Goolsbee, who is leaving the White House to return to his post as professor there.

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