President Obama on Thursday portrayed his fight for re-election as a choice between the preservation of a thriving middle class under his continued leadership and a nation, led by Republican Mitt Romney, in which the rich continued to prosper at the expense of everyone else.

“If you believe this economy grows best when everybody gets a fair shot and everybody does their fair share and everybody plays by the same set of rules, then I ask you to stand with me for a second term as president,” Obama said in an hour-long address in Ohio. “If you want to give the policies of the last decade another try, then you should vote for Mr. Romney.”