Obama to try his pitch to middle class

WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- The Democratic convention will be all about appealing to the middle class, former Obama aide Rahm Emanuel said.

Emanuel, who appeared Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," said the party would be able to present a clear contrast to the Republicans, whom he said came off at their convention in Tampa as an insular group more concerned with benefiting big business and the upper crust.

"They (voters) are frustrated that we have a society and an economy as well as a culture that has two sets of rule books and two sets of values," said Emanuel. "One set for those who are most fortunate, who operate by a different set of rules than everyone else."

Emanuel, the current mayor of Chicago, said his former boss ignored conservative calls to allow the auto industry to collapse and housing to "bottom out" when he took office. He said Obama instead took steps to save the car companies and keep people in their homes.

"General Motors is alive and well -- and Osama bin Laden is not," Emanuel summarized. "And that's what got done."

Republican stalwart New Gingrich countered that the steps Obama took four years ago had not paid off and that the future of the economy was what really mattered to U.S. voters.

"I think Obama has a hard sell over the next two months," the onetime Republican presidential candidate told NBC. "I think the biggest event next week won't be his speech Thursday; it will be the Friday morning jobs report. If that Friday morning jobs report is bad it will ground his speech."