Obama tells Republicans game on for upcoming election
Comments (...)WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama delivered an election-year broadside to Republicans: Game on.
The GOP, from Congress to the campaign trail, signaled it’s ready for the fight.
In his third State of the Union address, Obama issued a populist call for income equality that echoed the Occupy Wall Street movement. He challenged GOP lawmakers to work with him or move aside so he could use the power of the presidency to produce results for an electorate uncertain whether he deserves another term.
Facing a deeply divided Congress, Obama appealed for lawmakers to send him legislation on immigration, clean energy and housing, knowing full well the election-year prospects are bleak but aware that polls show that the independent voters who lifted him to the presidency crave bipartisanship.
“I intend to fight obstruction with action,” Obama told a packed chamber and tens of millions of Americans watching in prime time. House Republicans greeted his words with stony silence.
The Democratic president’s vision of an activist government broke sharply with Republican demands for less government intervention to allow free enterprise. The stark differences will be evident in the White House’s dealings with Congress and in the presidential campaign over the next 10 months.
In the Republican response to the president’s address, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who once considered a White House bid, railed against the “extremism” of an administration that stifles economic growth.
“No feature of the Obama presidency has been sadder than its constant effort to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others,” Daniels said, speaking from Indianapolis. “As in previous moments of national danger, we Americans are all in the same boat.”
Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday the protracted policy fight with Republicans is “not about bad guys and good guys,” but centers on how best to keep the middle class growing in America.
The administration has worked hard to strike deals with congressional Republicans on a wide array of issues, he said, including steps to rein in the mounting federal deficit. But Biden added that time after time in talks he held with congressional figures in both parties, he was told little could be accomplished because of the wall of opposition from 86 conservative House Republicans.
“It’s like the tail is wagging the dog,” the vice president said.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., called the differences between the parties “stark” and said he thought little could be accomplished on the federal debt until the two sides come to grips with the skyrocketing costs of health care and the Medicare program.
“I don’t think anyone wants to pay higher taxes,” Cantor said. And he said Washington needs to “get out of the mindset” that the country’s problems can be solved with new programs and accept that small business “is the backbone” of the economy.
In his speech, Obama said getting a fair shot for all Americans is “the defining issue of our time.” He described an economy on the rebound from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, with more than 3 million jobs created in the last 22 months and U.S. manufacturers hiring. Although unemployment is high at 8.5 percent, home sales and corporate earnings have increased, among other positive economic signs.
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