President Barack Obama said Monday that, if Republicans wanted him to “walk the dog” or “wash their car” to help reduce the country’s debt, he would be “happy to do it” in the spirit of bipartisanship.
“I’ve said if the Republicans need more love, if they want me to walk the dog or wash their car, I’m happy to do it,” Obama said at a campaign event in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Obama, who is trying to run against a “Republican Congress,” said Republicans were trying to “bluff their way through until November.”
“You know, I genuinely believe that most Americans, Democrats or Republicans, they just want us to solve problems,” Obama said. “So I’m ready and willing to work. But I refuse to ask middle-class families to pay over $2,000 more so that millionaires and billionaires can pay less.”
With Congress’s approval ratings at historic lows, Obama is trying to blame Republican lawmakers for his economic failures. But a new book by Bob Woodward, The Price of Politics, revealed Obama lacked the stamina and even the desire, at times, during his first term to try for bipartisanship on important issues. In fact, Obama often has instigated the partisanship, polarizing the budget debate when he attacked Paul Ryan’s budget after White House aides invited Ryan to Obama’s speech at George Washington University in April of 2011. Obama admitted to Woodward that attacking Ryan’s budget was “a mistake.” Obama’s White House tried to use sequestration as leverage against Republicans during budget negotiations and now must deal with automatic defense cuts that could kick in at the beginning of 2013.
Obama’s White House also tried to use sequestration as leverage against Republicans during budget negotiations, and now he must deal with automatic defense cuts that could kick in at the beginning of 2013.
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