Obama: 'tea party' wrong on 'culprits' of economic woes
| Washington
On a day when the nation鈥檚 official economic umpires said the recession ended over a year ago, President Obama spent an hour on TV Monday defending his handling of the economy and charging critics from the "tea party" with 鈥渕isidentifying who the culprits鈥� are behind economic tough times.
For slightly over an hour, Obama appeared at a town hall style gathering called 鈥淚nvesting in America,鈥� hosted by the business cable channel CNBC at the Newseum journalism museum in Washington. He admitted that 鈥渢imes are tough for everybody right now鈥� and noted that the recovery fostered by his policies 鈥渋s slow and steady as opposed to a quick fix.鈥�
The National Bureau of Economic Research, a panel of academic experts responsible for dating recessions, said the recession lasted 18 months and ended in July, 2009. It was the longest recession the country has endured since World War II, and cost the economy 7.3 million jobs, the panel said.
When asked about tea party critics of his policies, Obama first noted that the US has a 鈥渘oble tradition of being helpfully skeptical about government.鈥� But he said the problem he saw in the debate about the direction of the country now taking place was that the wrong 鈥渃ulprits鈥� were being blamed. He then noted that under President George W. Bush there were two tax cuts and two wars that were not paid for.
The president told CNBC anchor John Harwood that the challenge for the tea party is 鈥渋dentifying specifically what you would do鈥� to deal with economic problems since often solutions involve 鈥渧ery difficult choices.鈥� The president added that the nation would 鈥渘ot be able to solve these problems just by yelling at each other.鈥�
Obama disputed tea party activists who argue that the government is now engaged in activities which go beyond the scope of what is authorized in the US Constitution. He argued that 鈥渢he federal government is probably less intrusive now than 30 years ago.鈥�
In response to an audience member who charged the Obama administration with treating the business community like a pi帽ata, the president responded, 鈥渢here is a big chunk of the country that thinks I鈥檝e been too soft鈥� on Wall Street.
When asked if he would debate policy proposals with House Minority Leader John Boehner, he said it was 鈥減remature鈥� to expect Boehner to be the next speaker of the House, something that would happen if the Democrats lose their majority in the House.
Sitting in front of a studio audience that included business executives and students, the president reiterated his oft-repeated call for patience with the pace of the economic recovery which has resulted in a 9.6 percent unemployment rate. 鈥淚t has not happened fast enough. I know how frustrated people are,鈥� he said.
