GALESBURG, Ill.  — President Barack Obama said Wednesday that Washington has “taken its eye off the ball” as he pledged a stronger second-term commitment to tackling the economic woes that strain many in the middle class nearly five years after the country plunged into a recession.

Pres. Obama returned to the college campus where he gave his first major economic address as a U. S. senator, and he chided Congress for being less concerned about the economy and more about “an endless parade of distractions, political posturing and phony scandals.”

“I am here to say this needs to stop,” Pres. Obama said in a speech at Knox College. “This moment does not require short term thinking. It does not require having the same old stale debates.”

The president’s attempt to refocus on the economy comes amid some hopeful signs of improvement, with the unemployment rate falling and consumer confidence on the rise. But looming spending and budget deadlines this fall could upend that progress if Washington spirals into contentious fiscal fights like those that plagued Pres. Obama’s first term.