President Barack Obama laid out a case for the Buffett rule Tuesday that what’s at stake isn’t just fairness — it’s the future.

The president made the pitch in a campaign-style speech to students at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, connecting it to his message of fairness that he says is at the core of America.

Brushing back accusations that he’s pushing "some socialist dream" Obama said that for education, research, infrastructure and other investments that benefit the country as a whole to continue, there must be a way to pay for it.

"It’s our turn to preserve the American dream for future generations," Obama said. "Here in America, we have a sense of common purpose. Here in America, we can meet any challenge. Here in America, we can seize any moment. We can make this century another great American century."

The Senate is set to vote next week on in change in tax laws that would set a 30 percent minimum income tax for Americans earning more than $1 million annually.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has put forward a budget plan that cuts taxes on many Americans, with a particular emphasis on the rich, something that Obama says is a mistake.

Cutting taxes on the rich did not work under President George W. Bush, he said. Rather than turning to another means to raise revenues, “a lot of the folks who were peddling these same trickle down theories — including some who are running for a certain office right now who shall not be named — [are] doubling down on these old broken down theories.”

That mention, of “some who are running for a certain office right now who shall not be named” was the closest Obama got to explicitly acknowledging the general election race that drew closer with Rick Santorum’s exit just before the Florida speech, all but delivering the Republican nomination to Mitt Romney.

Still, throughout his speech, the message was clear: In 2012, Barack Obama and the Democrats are in favor of "fairness," of having those Americans who can afford to do so pay a bit more in taxes so that the rest of the country can thrive. By contrast, Republicans wants to cut education, Medicare, Social Security and other programs, as Obama sees it.

Romney’s communications director, Gail Gitcho, said in a statement on Monday that Obama is “the first president in history to openly campaign for reelection on a platform of higher taxes.”

On Tuesday, she followed up by proposing the Obama rule, which "says that we must tax American families and small businesses so that government can grow. President Obama has made it clear that raising taxes is the one campaign promise he will keep. Mitt Romney wants to lower the tax rate so that more Americans can keep their hard-earned money and small businesses can begin to grow and hire. American families and small businesses have already suffered enough under the Obama rule."

Obama finished his speech by urging students to call their members of Congress to voice support for the Buffett rule.

“Florida, I’ve told you where I stand,” Obama said. “Now it’s time for members of Congress to say where they stand.”

The president finished Tuesday with two campaign fundraisers in Florida, following up on the one he spoke at before the speech. In all, he’s expected to raise $2 million while in the battleground state.

(SOURCE)