President Obama, speaking in Rhode Island last night as he continued to escalate his nationwide campaigning leading up to the Nov. 2 election, articulated his “car in the ditch” analogy at a rally of Democratic supporters.

Obama said, “I’ve been using this analogy as I travel the country. Imagine the Republicans driving the economy into a ditch. And it’s a deep ditch. It’s a big ditch. And somehow they walked away from the accident, and we put on our boots and we rappelled down into the ditch. We’ve been pushing, pushing, trying to get that car out of the ditch.

“Meanwhile, the Republicans are standing there, sipping on a Slurpee. Fanning themselves. We’re hot and sweaty and pushing, and they’re kicking dirt into the ditch. Getting it into our faces. But that’s okay. Every once in a while we’d ask them, “Do you want to come down and help?” They’d say, “No, but you’re not pushing the right way, though. Push harder.”

“Finally, we get this car out of the ditch, and it’s banged up. It needs some body work, needs a tune-up. But it’s pointing in the right direction. The engine is turning and it’s ready to go. And we suddenly get this tap on our shoulders. We look back, who is it? The Republicans. And they’re saying, “Excuse me, we want the keys back.” But you can’t have the keys back. You don’t know how to drive!

“We can’t have special interests sitting shotgun.We’ve got to have middle-class families up in front. We don’t mind the Republicans joining us. They can come for the ride, but they got to sit in back.”