Excerpt
KWAME HOLMAN (Newshour): It's a theme President Obama hits in nearly every appearance these days, urging Congress to act, as he did today in Las Vegas.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Your voices convinced Congress to extend this middle-class tax cut before. I need your help to make sure they do it again, no drama, no delay. Let's just get this done.
KWAME HOLMAN: In fact, criticizing the inaction of Congress apparently has become a key part of the Obama reelection strategy. He first laid out the theme last October, pushing his jobs bill.
BARACK OBAMA: The question then is: Will Congress do something?
If Congress does something, then I can't run against a do-nothing Congress. If Congress does nothing, then it's not a matter of me running against them. I think the American people will run them out of town because they are frustrated and they know we need to do some -- something big and something bold.
KWAME HOLMAN: The confrontation pits the president squarely against Republicans, who now control the House and have the votes to block his proposals in the Senate.
They went toe to toe with Mr. Obama last summer over raising the federal debt ceiling, and later over extending the payroll tax break and long-term unemployment benefits. Those measures passed, but much of the rest of the president's agenda has languished.
And the battle has taken a toll on Congress' public approval rating. It stood at just 13 percent in a recent New York Times/CBS News poll.
The Senate's Democratic majority leader, Harry Reid, says it is no surprise.
SEN. HARRY REID, D-Nev.: I understand why the American people look at Congress and shake their head, what is this all about, because we have not been able to accomplish things the American people think they need and deserve. And we can't do it because this has been the most obstructive year of Congress that I can imagine, and I have been in a lot of Congresses.
KWAME HOLMAN: But the leader of the Senate's powerful minority, Republican Mitch McConnell, argues the Congress is not solely to blame.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, R-Ky.: Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton were confronted with the same situation, where they had a Congress that wouldn't give them everything they wanted, and they managed to lead and to reach agreements and to be successful. This president has chosen to play the blame game.
Sen. McConnell, the current political climate is NOT the same as it was for President Clinton. Your party, the Republican Party, has become locked in the no-compromise mode. Just look at the "pledge" you had candidates sign. The Republican Party of the Clinton years WAS willing to compromise.
Your party has also been in the get-rid-of-Obama mode since the day after he was elected. The Republican election campaign is not just 2012, it started in 2008.
ALSO SEE: ECONOMY - In Our Age of Austerity = Nastier Politics
No comments:
Post a Comment