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Obama's Fightin' Words... Against The Left?

Ryan Faughnder |
December 7, 2010 | 4:56 p.m. PST

Associate Editor

President Obama pulled off the gloves at a news conference on Tuesday, following his compromise with Republicans to temporarily extend the Bush-era tax cuts to everyone including the wealthiest Americans. To the surprise of many in the liberal media, the President reserved some of his harshest rhetoric for them. 

President Obama (Creative Commons)
President Obama (Creative Commons)

“People will have the satisfaction of having a purist position, and no victories for the American people. And we will be able to feel good about ourselves and sanctimonious about ourselves about how good our intentions are, how tough we are,” Obama told reporters.

He didn't hold back when talking about his usual opponents, though. Speaking about the need for the compromise, Obama compared dealing with the conservatives to dealing with hostage-takers and said that tax cuts for the wealthy are the Republicans’ “Holy Grail.”

But when he turned his ire on those on the left who are vexed by what they perceive as the President’s willingness to give the Republicans too much ground, many commentators went on the defensive.

Kevin Drum at Mother Jones speculated that Obama “lost his temper a little bit.”

“It's obvious that Obama is more personally stung by criticism from the left than from the right,” he wrote.

A Huffington Post blogger similarly scolded the President for his communication style.

“What worked so well for President Obama during his campaign has not been the approach that he is taking to communicating now that he is in office,” she wrote.

At Salon, Alex Pareene scoffed at Obama's assertion that he is "itchin' for a fight" with Republicans, calling the statement "utterly unconvincing."

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