At the Hill, "Obama wants to fight 'mean Congress'":
The White House’s emerging strategy for the midterm elections is to run against a “mean” Congress.More.
President Obama has made that tack known more than ever in recent days.
In the last week, he’s accused Republicans of getting into disagreements with themselves over the border supplemental funding and for not being able to pass “plain vanilla” legislation.
He asked them to “stop hating” and “being mad all the time.” And he mocked House Republicans for suing him and added, “And I said to Speaker Boehner, tell your caucus the best way to avoid me acting on my own is work with me to actually do something. Then you don’t have to worry about it.”
Just as important as Obama’s words are his gestures and style.
The president is in his wheelhouse when he’s in campaign mode, and during the Kansas City, Mo., address, he was frequently joking and smiling with the crowds.
He at times oozed with sarcasm as he hailed the infrequent times when he said Republicans had been willing to work with him. Laughter and smirks were diced through the speech.
His audience ate up the storyline portraying House Republicans as the villains in the 2014 storyline.
Those in Obama's circle say it’s no coincidence that, with the fall elections just months away, Obama is ramping up his attacks on a “do-nothing” Congress.
“All of us have always thought he's better with an opponent and someone to fight against,” said Tommy Vietor, a former longtime Obama communications aide. “When you got an opponent, especially an opponent as absurd as the Republican Congress, he's in a better place because he can point out their hypocrisy, their mean spiritedness, and he can do it with humor.
“The more feisty campaign tone is where he's strongest,” Vietor continued, adding that the president's recent Kansas City event, “felt like a campaign stop, and it felt like him at his best.”
Obama has a past of running against Bogeymen. In 2008, he campaigned against former President George W. Bush, even has he competed for the White House with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the GOP’s nominee.
And in 2012, he depicted Mitt Romney, his rival in the presidential election, as an out-of-touch billionaire who couldn't relate to every day Americans.
Obama's success in 2014 will be measured by one thing: who controls the Senate.
And Chuck Woolery has the push-back:
We do not have a do nothing Congress. We do have a do nothing Senate.
— Chuck Woolery (@chuckwoolery) August 4, 2014
I think Obama is a first in many ways for this Country.I don't think very many even begin to understand the man and his feelings and purpose
— Chuck Woolery (@chuckwoolery) August 4, 2014
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