President Obama trotted out one of his favorite talking points against Republicans yet again Tuesday night, reminding the opposition party that “I won.”
He has been doing this since almost the first day of his presidency.
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On Jan. 23, 2009, four days after his first inauguration, Obama snapped at Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) for criticizing his stimulus plan. From The Wall Street Journal:
The top congressional leaders from both parties gathered at the White House for a working discussion over the shape and size of President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plan. The meeting was designed to promote bipartisanship.
But Obama showed that in an ideological debate, he’s not averse to using a jab.
Challenged by one Republican senator over the contents of the package, the new president, according to participants, replied: “I won.”
The statement was prompted by Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona , who challenged the president and the Democratic leaders over the balance between the package’s spending and tax cuts, bringing up the traditional Republican notion that a tax credit for people who do not earn enough to pay income taxes is not a tax cut but a government check.
The president has used the gist of this line repeatedly during the last six years. He told his onetime campaign opponent, Sen. John McCain, “the election is over” when challenged during a public forum on healthcare reform in 2010.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i0bDbYUUhY#t=0m54s
The Washington Post framed a similar usage of the president’s talking point in 2013 this way:
And now, after a smattering of Republicans applauded Obama’s observation Tuesday night that he had no more campaigns to run, he said this:
#IWonBothOfThem, the hashtag is.
It was some serious “swag,” MSNBC’s Chris Hayes said.
Swag that goes back 2,189 days, my man.
