WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama has declared fixing the U.S. economy his “central mission” but he has few tools to bring down nearly double-digit unemployment or jump-start the faltering recovery this year.

To get a quick fix, he would need a big initiative, but the president stands almost no chance of getting Congress to pass any substantial legislation in the few weeks left before the mid-term elections — a stretch of time he calls the campaign “silly season.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama has declared fixing the U.S. economy his “central mission” but he has few tools to bring down nearly double-digit unemployment or jump-start the faltering recovery this year.

To get a quick fix, he would need a big initiative, but the president stands almost no chance of getting Congress to pass any substantial legislation in the few weeks left before the mid-term elections — a stretch of time he calls the campaign “silly season.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Departing White House economist Christina Romer called on Wednesday for further steps to stimulate the U.S. economy, saying high budget deficits should not be an excuse for allowing the unemployed to suffer.

“We have tools that would bring unemployment down without worsening our long-run fiscal outlook, if we can only find the will and the wisdom to use them,” Romer said in excerpts from a speech she will deliver later at the National Press Club.

FORT BLISS, Texas/BAGHDAD (Reuters) – President Barack Obama declared the combat mission in Iraq officially over on Tuesday in a move likely to hearten war-weary Americans despite political deadlock among Iraqis and more violence.

Obama, in a 15-minute address from the Oval Office, was to make the case that the removal of all but 50,000 U.S. troops and the end of the combat phase shows he has carried out a key promise of his 2008 presidential campaign.

FORT BLISS, Texas/BAGHDAD, Aug 31 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama declared the U.S. combat mission in Iraq officially over on Tuesday in a move likely to hearten war-weary Americans despite political deadlock among Iraqis and more violence.

Obama, in a 15-minute address from the Oval Office, was to make the case that the removal of all but 50,000 U.S. troops and the end of the combat phase shows he has carried out a key promise of his 2008 presidential campaign.

But Americans are also looking to Obama for leadership on boosting the sagging U.S. economy and some analysts were questioning his foreign policy focus this week — Iraq and the Middle East — at a time of fears of a double-dip recession.

White House aides made clear Obama would talk about the U.S. economy in the context of the drawdown from Iraq.

"He feels it’s very important to refocus resources that we’ve been spending abroad over the last several years into investing in our economy and our long-term competitiveness here at home," said Ben Rhodes, White House deputy national security adviser.

Obama visited the U.S. Army base at Fort Bliss, Texas, on Tuesday to celebrate the milestone but stressed his Oval Office speech should not be seen as a "victory lap."

"It’s not going to be self-congratulatory. There’s still a lot of work that we’ve got to do to make sure that Iraq is an effective partner with us," Obama said.

The White House wanted to avoid any comparisons between Obama’s speech and the May 2003 speech by President George W. Bush when he declared major combat operations over in Iraq in front of a "Mission Accomplished" banner only to see violence skyrocket in the months and years afterward.

Obama, who opposed the war from the start, telephoned Bush from Air Force One and they spoke for a few minutes about Iraq, the White House said without giving details.

Republicans were waiting to hear whether Obama would give credit to Bush for launching a U.S. troop surge in 2007 that they and many military commanders credit for helping to turn around the war.

"Though most Democrats still cannot bear to admit it, the war in Iraq is ending successfully because the surge worked. In 2007, President George W. Bush finally adopted a strategy and a team in Iraq that could win," Republican Senator John McCain wrote in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

Bush launched the war over suspicions that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons were found. Almost a trillion dollars have been spent and more than 4,400 U.S. soldiers and over 100,000 Iraqi civilians killed since the 2003 invasion.

A CBS News poll this month found that 72 percent of Americans now believe the war was not worth the loss of American lives.

Obama hopes the fulfillment of his pledge will resonate with Americans ahead of the Nov. 2 elections in which his Democrats are struggling to keep their majorities in the U.S. Congress.

But high unemployment and slowing economic growth have eclipsed the war as the top issue in voters’ minds, much as the economy did in 2008 when Obama prevailed over McCain in the presidential election.

The address, scheduled for 8 p.m. EDT/midnight GMT, will be Obama’s second from the Oval Office. The president used the same high-profile venue in June to discuss his administration’s response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

SENSE OF URGENCY, NOT MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

As Obama prepared to deliver his speech, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was in Iraq to assure Iraqis the United States is not abandoning them. He met with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani.

Biden’s talks took place amid a political deadlock almost six months after an inconclusive election in March over forming the next government. That message was echoed by a senior U.S. intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, who told reporters he was more worried about the lack of political reconciliation than the threat from Iran or al Qaeda in Iraq.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned that "al Qaeda in Iraq is beaten, but not gone."

"This is not a time for premature victory parades or self-congratulations, even as we reflect with pride on what our troops and their Iraqi partners have accomplished," he said.

The roughly 50,000 U.S. soldiers still in Iraq are moving into an advisory role in which they will train and support Iraq’s army and police.

The effective change on the ground will not be huge because the U.S. military has already been switching the focus toward training and support over the past year. Obama has promised to pull all U.S. troops out of Iraq by the end of 2011.

Iraqi security forces have been taking the lead since a bilateral security pact came into force in 2009. U.S. soldiers pulled out of Iraqi towns and cities in June last year.

Nevertheless, Iraqis are apprehensive as U.S. military might is scaled down, especially amid the political stalemate.

The impasse has raised tensions as politicians squabble over their share of power and insurgents carry out attacks aimed at undermining faith in the domestic security forces. (Writing by Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Alister Bull and Deborah Zabarenko; editing by Eric Beech)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will avoid a “Mission Accomplished” moment on Tuesday when marking progress in ending the Iraq war, using an Oval Office address to mark the milestone and address the bigger issue for voters — America’s struggling economy.

The White House says the removal of all but 50,000 U.S. troops and the declaration of the end to the combat phase shows Obama is fulfilling a campaign promise he made in 2008 to pull out of Iraq.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama must walk a fine line in a speech on Tuesday night as he highlights progress toward winding down the war in Iraq while trying to avoid any perception of a “Mission Accomplished” moment.

The White House says the removal of all but 50,000 U.S. troops and the declaration of the end to the combat phase shows Obama is fulfilling a campaign promise he made in 2008 to pull out of Iraq.

WASHINGTON, Aug 29 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on
Sunday hailed reductions in violence in Iraq and said he
believed Iraqis would resolve the impasse in their attempts to
form a coalition government.

“The trend lines have been steadily declining violence.
Even after we left the cities, what you’ve seen is lower and
lower levels of violence,” Obama said in an interview with NBC
News.

WASHINGTON, Aug 29 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said
on Sunday the U.S. economy was expanding but not at a robust
enough pace and there was no “magic bullet” that will fix its
problems.

Obama said in an NBC interview that the batch of grim
economic data over the past few weeks was something his
administration had anticipated.