He’s a uniter.
Barack Obama urged Americans to scold Republicans yesterday during his speech in Michigan where he pushed his latest costly new regulations and tax increases. The president was visibly upset that Republicans have stalled his big spending, big government agenda.
The New York Times:
In the seven days since Standard & Poor’s downgraded the country’s credit rating, political observers and frustrated Americans alike have asked this same question: Why doesn’t President Obama haul lawmakers back to Washington to deal with the worsening economic woes?
On Thursday, Mr. Obama gave his answer. “The last thing we need is Congress spending more time arguing in D.C.,” he said in an angry speech before workers and executives at a battery plant here.
Rather, the president said, echoing what his aides have been saying privately for days, “What I figure is, they need to spend more time out here, listening to you, and hearing how fed up you are.”
For Mr. Obama, Thursday’s trip, coming at perhaps the lowest point in his presidency, was a chance to try to regain his footing and present himself as an assured leader with programs and proposals that will help put the American economy back on track and make the country more competitive globally.
But Mr. Obama spent most of his remarks assailing the Congressional Republicans who have knocked down most of his proposals. At times, the president sounded angry, noteworthy since he is famous for rarely losing his cool. He called the credit downgrade “a self-inflicted wound,” and added: “That’s why people are frustrated. You can hear it in my voice; that’s why I’m frustrated.”
“There’s nothing wrong with our country,” Mr. Obama said, speaking at Johnson Controls, a maker of battery systems. “There’s something wrong with our politics.”
…After Michigan, Mr. Obama headed to New York to attend two Democratic fund-raisers to bring in money for the 2012 elections.
