Obama tells Democrats he welcomes debate on ‘class warfare’

President Obama said Friday that one of the biggest fights he will wage on the campaign trail is the GOP criticism that his tax proposals amount to “class warfare.”

Nothing against the wealthy, Obama said, “everybody wants to be rich.” The question is, he said, whether the nation is offering opportunity to all.

“We’re going to have a robust debate about whose vision is more promising [for] moving this country forward,” Obama said.

The president was speaking to House Democrats at their annual retreat here, and drew standing ovations.

Obama greeted Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) as the “soon-to-be once again speaker of the House.” He thanked lawmakers for taking what he acknowledged had often been politically difficult votes to support his agenda, and promised this fall “to have your back as well.”

The president closed the three-day retreat where Democrats were mapping their political and legislative strategy for the coming year.

Republicans held a similar getaway last week in Baltimore.