President Obama, in a fiery speech to Democrats Friday, accused Republicans of trying to “bamboozle folks,” saying their policies on middle-class issues did not reflect their lofty talk about helping ordinary Americans.
“I think the shift in rhetoric is good … if it actually leads them to take different actions,” Obama said at the Democratic National Committee’s winter meeting in Washington. “If it doesn’t, then its just spin.”
Obama went on to lambast Republicans for their opposition to his healthcare law and executive action sparing up to 5 million illegal immigrants from deportation. He also said the GOP’s position on raising the minimum wage and granting paid leave to workers was not consistent with the party’s rhetoric on helping the middle class.
Since Democrats were roundly defeated in the November midterms, Obama has struck a defiant tone, insisting that a recent uptick in the economy proved his policies were right all along.
“Their grand predictions of doom and gloom and death panels haven’t come true,” Obama told the roomful of Democrats. “The sky hasn’t fallen. Chicken Little is quiet.”
After the pep talk, of sorts, Obama conducted a roundtable with Democratic officials. The press was not allowed to watch the question and answer session.
Publicly, however, Obama insisted that the public was more supportive of Democratic solutions than Republican alternatives.
“We believe in middle-class economics, not top-down economics, not trickle-down economics,” he said.
“It’s pretty clear whose theory about how to grow the economy works,” Obama added. “We know their ideas don’t work. We remember.”
