White House Senior Adviser and Assistant to the President Dan Pfeiffer is laying some pretty heavy attacks on Congressional Republicans for not meeting the President halfway on his so-called attempts to reach across the aisle.
“It takes two to tango,” Pfeiffer said at Wednesday’s POLITICO Playbook breakfast. “Are the Republicans really going to be willing to work with us?”
Pfeiffer, defending the President, said the problem wasn’t Obama’s fault — it’s Washington’s.
“I don’t think the President is bipolar on bipartisanship,” he told POLITICO White House correspondent Mike Allen. “I think Washington is bipolar on bipartisanship.”
“To make real changes will require bipartisanship in Congress,” he added.
Pfeiffer specifically assailed House Republicans for refusing to compromise on a budget that, according to him, will only balance on “the backs of the middle class and seniors.” He also argued the Republicans are on the “wrong side of a 90 percent issue” — gun control.
“Background checks are a 90 percent issue, ” he explained.
Pointing out that Republicans only have the majority in the House, Pfeiffer warned they are at risk to lose that majority “for a whole host of reasons.”
“Continuing to reinforce the idea you are a party that caters not to the the 90 percent but to the 10 percent, a party that is out of touch with the mainstream of America on a whole host of issues, that continues to alienate the demographic groups that are moving away from the Republican party — that will contribute to that,” he threatened.
