President Obama used a lengthy White House non-press conference Tuesday to once again accuse "extreme" Republican lawmakers of holding the nation for "ransom," while offering a somewhat nuanced framework for fiscal talks in which he's "willing to compromise" -- but not negotiate.
The president tried to stake out his position during a lengthy exchange with reporters in the White House briefing room. Even the nature of the event was unclear. Though it was not considered a formal press conference, the president answered questions from 11 reporters and spoke for over an hour.
The takeaway was that the president, while willing to talk with Republicans about "almost anything," will not do so until they pass a spending bill and raise the debt ceiling.
"I've been willing to compromise my entire political career," Obama said. "But I'm not going to breach a basic principle that would weaken the presidency, change our democracy and do great damage to ordinary people."
House Speaker John Boehner fired back Tuesday afternoon, calling the president's position "not sustainable."
"What the president said today was, if there's unconditional surrender by Republicans, he'll sit down and talk with us. That's not the way our government works," Boehner said.
No comments:
Post a Comment