Obama starts big week with innovation speech in NY

President Barack ObamaBarack Obama, squeezing in an eleventh-hour pitch for his domestic agenda, is promoting his administration's promises of innovation at a New York community college before weeklong meetings on international priorities.

Obama heads to Troy, N.Y., on Monday to discuss his already-in-place programs that he says help spur innovation and transform the U.S. economy. He then moves on to New York City, where he will become the first sitting U.S. president to appear on David LettermanDavid Letterman's "Late Show" couch — another example of a White House strategy designed to put Obama in front of as many cameras as possible to sell his message to a skeptical public.

"He's been on everything but the Food Channel," joked Sen. Lindsey GrahamSen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

Obama made appearances on five Sunday morning talk shows at the top of a week that will take him to New York for the U.N. General Assembly and to Pittsburgh for a gathering of the world's 20 largest economies. Both will be the focus of international attention but come as the administration is trying to spark a domestic agenda that has stalled in the Democratic-controlled Congress.

To that end, his speech at Hudson Valley Community College will repackage his programs as part of a strategy for innovation. The White House said the remarks would reflect Obama's belief that new ideas produce new jobs and the United States must invest in education, infrastructure and research.

Hudson Valley Community College already has received some $2 million in federal grants to promote environmentally friendly jobs and train students in energy efficiency programs. The president plans to tour a technology classroom and visit a lab with Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President Joe BidenJoe Biden, who teaches at a community college near Washington.

Several New York politicians are expected to attend the event, including Gov. David PatersonDavid Paterson, who is said to be under pressure from the White House and other Democrats to drop out of the 2010 governor's race.

During his remarks, Obama plans to decry a U.S. economy that relies on explosive growth in some areas that mask long-term weaknesses. Instead, he plans to say, the economy has to be a consistent string of new ideas that refresh the market at a constant pace. The president — fond of criticizing "a bubble-and-burst" cycle — also plans to describe a future built by skilled workers and sound investments.

He will point to more than $100 billion in economic stimulus dollars that Congress approved earlier this year to look for breakthroughs in areas as diverse as health, energy and information technology and to his spending priorities, which included the largest increase in basic research in history. Although deeply unpopular among conservatives, administration officials insist the spending pulled the economy back from the brink and avoided a potential economic depression.

And to prevent future crises, Obama will tell the audience the United States must continue to invest in projects so the nation isn't left trying to catch up with global competitors and to make sure regulations don't stifle new thinking crucial to economic stability.

(This version CORRECTS SUBs 4th graf to correct that G-20 gathering is world's 20 largest economies, not nation's. Will be led from 11:50 a.m. EDT remarks in Troy, N.Y. Moving on general news, financial and entertainment services.)