Obama Calls For New 'Square Deal'

President Barack Obama is channeling President Theodore Roosevelt Tuesday, with a call for economic fairness that draws parallels to the progressive reformer's calls for a "square deal" for regular Americans more than a century ago.

Obama intends to use a speech in small town Osawatomie, Kan. - where Roosevelt delivered his "New Nationalism" address in 1910 - to lay out economic themes of giving middle-class workers a fair shake and greater financial security, concepts the president will probably return to repeatedly during the 2012 campaign.

Obama is pressuring Congress to support an extension of a payroll tax cut that the White House says will give a $1,000 tax cut to a typical family earning $50,000 a year. The president is coupling that with efforts to renew a program of extended unemployment benefits set to expire Dec. 31.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.