US President Barack Obama vented and mocked his foes on Wednesday, shedding his trademark cool in a spasm of frustration that made his vow to heal Washington’s divides seem a curiosity of a past political age.
The president said his kids had their act together better than the US Congress, rebuked lawmakers for taking too much time off and chided them for making a “fuss” and a cause celebre over the US mission in Libya.
Tetchiness between presidents and Congress is a frequent and even constitutionally dictated feature of the US system of divided government.
However, Wednesday’s performance may mark a shift to a more populist stance by Obama as he fires up his campaign ahead of the presidential election in November next year and tries to enthuse legions of supporters who carried him to the White House.
The president’s sardonic White House press conference perhaps revealed the frustrations of seeing his agenda stalled by recalcitrant Republicans who make no secret they plan to crush his hopes of a second term.
It also reflects a political reality that has the president struggling to ignite a swift economic recovery and an explosion in jobs growth: He admitted the economic plight of Americans “weighs on me, every minute of every day.”
Often in Washington it is tough to know where posturing ends and reality begins, and Obama’s outbursts were at least partly a calculated move in a theatrical showdown with Republicans in a current spending and deficit row.
However, his biting sarcasm contrasted with his euphoric hope-fueled campaign when he, like many White House aspirants before him, vowed to “change the tone” in Washington.
Judging by the press conference, US politics remains strangled by recriminations, and Obama is an enthusiastic flamethrower himself.
He appeared frustrated that despite “multiple” meetings with Democratic and Republican senators and US House of Representatives members, they had still not agreed to raise the US government’s borrowing limit before an Aug. 2 deadline.
“At a certain point, they need to do their job, you know. Now’s the time to go ahead and make the tough choices. That’s why they’re called leaders,” Obama said.
He reserved particular frustration for Republicans he said were refusing to budge from a “maximalist” refusal to allow tax hikes, even after he made his “tough” decisions to slay Democratic “sacred cows” with spending cuts.
Obama was also fed up that frequent congressional recesses were eating up time as the August deadline looms that could see the US government pitched into a damaging debt default.
“I think members of Congress need to understand, we are going to, you know, start having to cancel things and stay here until we get it done,” he said, days before the July 4 Independence Day holiday.
He also said his daughters Malia and Sasha always got their homework done a day ahead of time — and he did not see why Congress could not get its business done at a similar clip.
Obama also bridled at members of both parties who have questioned whether he exceeded his authority, and the War Powers Act, by joining the NATO mission in Libya without congressional authorization.
“A lot of this fuss is politics,” he said, wondering why people were not gung ho for going after Muammar Qaddafi, “a guy who was a state sponsor of terrorist operations against the United States of America [who] is pinned down and the noose is tightening around him.”
“This suddenly becomes the cause celebre for some folks in Congress? Come on,” he added.
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