As partisan as he’s able, anyway. Politico has video of POTUS rallying House Democrats in support of the stimulus package, and it’s fun to watch if you’ve been waiting for Obama to take the gloves off. Some choice quotes:
“When you start hearing arguments, on the cable chatter, just understand a couple of things,” he said. “No. 1, when they say, ‘Well, why are we spending $800 billion [when] we’ve got this huge deficit?’ — first of all, I found this deficit when I showed up, No. 1.”
“I found this national debt, doubled, wrapped in a big bow waiting for me as I stepped into the Oval Office.”
“What do you think a stimulus is?” Obama asked incredulously. “It’s spending — that’s the whole point! Seriously.”
More below, from CNN:
“Don’t come to the table with the same tired arguments and worn ideas that helped to create this crisis,” the president said at the House Democrats’ annual retreat in Williamsburg.
“We’re not going to get relief by turning back to the very same policies that, for the last eight years, doubled the national debt and threw our economy into a tailspin,” he said. “We can’t embrace the losing formula that says only tax cuts will work for every problem we face, that ignores critical challenges like our addiction to foreign oil, or the soaring cost of health care, or failing schools and crumbling bridges and roads and levees.”
“I don’t care whether you’re driving a hybrid or an SUV — if you’re headed for a cliff, you’ve got to change direction.”
More of this, please.
