WASHINGTON — Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said President Barack Obama may have proved adept at multitasking so far, but now’s the time for the president to buckle down and focus on one issue: banking.

“I think Obama has proved that he’s intelligent and impressive,” he said. “He now has to prove he can focus on one issue at a time.”

At a Senate Budget Committee hearing, Sen. Alexander said President Obama needs to take a page from former President Dwight Eisenhower, who directed all of his administration’s energy into ending the Korean War.

“President Obama needs to borrow a lesson from President Eisenhower and simply say, ‘I will fix the banks. I will get credit flowing again. And I will make everything else second and subordinate until that job is honorably done,’” Sen. Alexander said.

He called on the president to reassure the American people and inspire confidence.

“He doesn’t need to explain the problem with banking and credit anymore,” Sen. Alexander said. “He needs to convince us that he is going to fix it.”

WAMP: DEMOCRATS DISTRACTING GOP

Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., said Democrats are using a “divide and conquer” strategy in their attacks on controversial conservative talk show icon Rush Limbaugh.

Democrats have sought to portray Mr. Limbaugh as the voice of the Republican Party, noting that GOP lawmakers and leaders, including Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, have recently apologized to Mr. Limbaugh for their critical statements about him.

“It’s unfortunate that the Democrats made an intentional issue of Rush Limbaugh,” Rep. Wamp said. “That is a huge intentional distraction of the issues that we’re trying to debate. It was a ploy, and James Carville is really behind it. It lures Republicans into division among ourselves, and that’s unfortunate.”

Rep. Wamp, who is running for Tennessee governor in 2010, said Republicans have yet to jell behind a cohesive national message.

WAMP’S TECH CORRIDOR GROWS TO FIVE STATES

Whether or not his gubernatorial bid proves successful, Rep. Wamp has managed to grow the territory of one of his major initiatives — the Tennessee Valley Technology Corridor.

What began as a link between research facilities in Tullahoma, Chattanooga, Oak Ridge and Knoxville has grown to 11 congressional districts in parts of five Southeastern states. The latest expansion to the Tennessee Valley Corridor is the addition of North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District, represented by Heath Shuler, D-N.C.

“From the great biodiversity and green technology assets to the many other science and technology resources in Western North Carolina, Congressman Shuler’s district is a logical partner for the corridor,” Mr. Wamp said in a statement this past week.

The Tennessee Valley Corridor, a publicly and privately funded economic and technology development organization Rep. Wamp started in 1995, stretches from Huntsville, Ala., to southwest Virginia and from south-central Kentucky to western North Carolina.

Compiled by Washington correspondent Herman Wang and staff writer Dave Flessner.

E-mail Herman Wang at hwang@timesfreepress.com

E-mail Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com