President Obama is getting tough with Republicans as he tries to reverse a growing perception problem — that his eagerness to reach compromise makes him a political pushover.
With his approval ratings in a tailspin, the president this week accused congressional Republicans of obstructing job growth and chided them for expending more energy to derail re-election efforts than they do on putting Americans back to work.
“It’s been a long time since Congress was focused on what the American people need them to be focused on,” Obama wrote in a letter to supporters. “I know you are frustrated by that. I am too.”
Obama warned Republican lawmakers that they would shoulder the blame for thousands of workers losing their jobs if they failed to approve a massive transportation bill that would fund the construction of bridges, highways and mass transit facilities.
He also set Republicans up to take the blame if Congress fails to pass a funding extension for the Federal Aviation Administration, which will run out of money on Sept. 16 if lawmakers can’t resolve differences over a union-related provision in the bill.
But he didn’t stop there — Obama took a swing at the Republican presidential candidates, as well, when he announced that he would speak to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, the same night as the next Republican debate.
“It was a coincidence,” White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters of the conflict. Obama eventually agreed however, at the behest of House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to push back his speech to Thursday.
Liberal activists said they’re pleased to see Obama taking a harder line against his opponents, but they want him to do even more.
Obama’s new line of attack so far lacks the fiery rhetoric that characterized his speeches leading up to the 2010 midterm elections, when he accused Republicans of idly “sipping on their Slurpees” while Democrats tried to dig the country out of an economic ditch.
“He doesn’t need to attack the Republicans, but he needs to stand up and argue for his own strong agenda,” said Roger Hickey, co-director of the liberal nonprofit Campaign for America’s Future.
In a letter to the president this week, 80 liberal groups asked Obama to quit worrying about winning bipartisan support for his initiatives and present a jobs plan that, if only symbolically, proves he is fighting for progressive ideals.
“I’d like to see him propose a jobs plan that is big enough to put people back to work,” Hickey said. “I’d like to see him fighting for the rights of working people and the creation of new jobs.”
Roughly three in 10 people who voted for Obama in 2008 now disapprove of the president’s job performance, according to a new poll by SurveyUSA, and 63 percent of those who disapprove said their disappointment stems from Obama’s willingness to compromise with Republicans.
The list of liberal complaints against Obama is long. Most recently, his supporters were angered when he agreed to Republican demands for tax cuts for the wealthy and a GOP deficit-reduction plan that relied solely on deep cuts in federal spending.
“President Obama must come out strong and send a message to Tea Party Republicans that the days of them playing politics with the livelihoods of American citizens are over,” said Justin Ruben, director of the progressive nonprofit MoveOn.org.
