Phoenix ( CNN ) President Barack Obama 's three day cross country trip , designed to build support for his economic priorities ahead of his State of the Union speech , is being sidelined by the terror attacks in Paris . Mr. Obama held an unscheduled photo op in the Oval Office before leaving Washington on Wednesday to address the attacks . And aboard Air Force One on his flight to Detroit , White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest was peppered with questions like , `` With respect to the situation in Paris , does the U.S. have an assessment ... on who these gunmen were ? '' And , `` At this point , you ca n't say whether these gunmen were linked to any terror organization ? '' And , `` ..is the U.S. concerned about any risk here from this group ? '' The economy only came up later . Earnest even made a rare second appearance in the press section of Air Force One to advise reporters that the president had called French President Francois Hollande aboard the flight . But despite the focus on Paris from much of the national media , once the President arrived in Detroit and Phoenix , he stuck to his message that his policies are responsible for the rebounding U.S. economy and the resurgence of growth in U.S. manufacturing jobs . In Phoenix Thursday , he made an unscheduled stop at a housing development where new homes were being built to highlight the uptick in housing prices . And at a speech at the city 's Central High School , he focused on that comeback , and steps he is taking to make sure it continues . With HUD Secretary Julian Castro by his side , the President even announced a half percent cut in FHA mortgage loan rates to help families . And he said his administration 's policies are responsible for the economic turnaround . `` As a result of all these efforts , today home sales are up 50 percent . '' He said as a result of homes sales coming back , more than a hundred thousand construction jobs have been created and added , `` This progress is not an accident . It 's what happens when you have policies that put middle class families first . '' However , several reporters from different networks were still emailing the press secretary late Thursday morning to ask if the president would address the French terror crisis in his remarks . He did not . At an event with 750 autoworkers at a Ford manufacturing plant in Wayne , Michigan , on Wednesday the President said , `` there is no doubt , thanks to the steps that we took early on to rescue our economy and to rebuild it on a new foundation , we are entering into the New Year with new confidence that America is coming back . '' The President added : `` that 's going to be the focus of my State of the Union address in a couple of weeks -- building on the progress that we 've already made . '' Perhaps Friday will be a breakthrough day , as he heads to Knoxville , Tennessee , to talk about expanding higher education opportunities for millions of students . He still has two weeks before the State of the Union to make his sales pitch to Americans and then directly to the new Republican led Congress .
Obama is pushing economic priorities ahead of State of the Union speech . But most media attention is on Paris attack .