In State of the Union, Obama Makes Middle-Class Pitch

President Barack Obama on Tuesday night declared an end to the U.S. economic crisis as he made the case to Americans, and a skeptical Congress, that now was the time to focus on resolving the most stubborn impediment to a full-fledged recovery: lagging progress among the middle class.

“The shadow of crisis has passed,” Mr. Obama said in his annual State of the Union address, arguing that a revitalized economy should guide Washington leaders to confront what he called “middle-class economics.” Laying o