In Chicago, Pawlenty to accuse Obama of ‘class warfare’

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty will call for lower business and income taxes, fewer regulations and slashing spending in an economic address in Chicago on Tuesday, outlining a plan he says can spark stronger economic growth if he’s elected president.

In President Obama’s home town, the Republican presidential hopeful will also accuse him of being 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 will say, according to excerpts released by his campaign Tuesday.

Pawlenty also previewed his speech in an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune, unveiling his “big, positive goal” of growing the economy by 5%.

“The federal government’s addiction to spending must be brought to a halt and we must have a president who has a growth agenda with pro-growth policies,” Pawlenty writes. “America’s economy is not even growing at 2% — and that’s what many projections say we can expect for the next decade. That’s not acceptable.”

Pawlenty formally kicked off his presidential campaign last month with a pledge to tell the difficult truths about the nation’s challenges.

His speech Tuesday will take place at the University of Chicago. Ironically, it was announced Monday that Austan Goolsbee, chair of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, will step down to return to the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.