Obama slams Republicans

16 September 2010 - 10:58 By Sapa-AFP
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US President Barack Obama has laid into Republicans over taxes and immigration, seeking to capitalize on a rare ray of hope for his Democrats ahead of crunch mid-term elections.



Obama sharpened his attacks Wednesday after the final big nominating contests for November's congressional polls exposed fresh splits between Republicans, pitting party grandees against the ultra-conservative Tea Party movement.

He slammed the opposition party as a "blockade" holding back reforms needed to pull the United States out of multiple crises, and mounted his most passionate defense yet of his own record during a tumultuous 20 months in office.

Obama told an audience of politicians and lobbyists from the electorally crucial Hispanic community that though they might chide him for failing short of elevated expectations, they should not forget who their friends were.

"Don't forget who is standing with you, and who is standing against you," Obama said, striking a note of passion rarely seen during his presidency, when he has seemed worn down by the cares of office.

"Don’t ever believe that this election coming up doesn’t matter," he said, in a message clearly tailored towards November 2, when Hispanic voters will form a crucial voting block on a day Democrats fear heavy losses.

"Don’t forget who secured health care for four million children, including the children of legal immigrants."

New evidence that the president is now in full-bore campaign mode came after primary elections on Tuesday underscored the complications the Tea Party movement poses to Republican ambitions of seizing power in Washington.

The shock win by conservative Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell in Delaware, against party favorite Mike Castle, saddled the Republicans with a nominee that even party leaders think cannot win the seat in November.

Former president George W. Bush's political guru Karl Rove, warned on Fox News television late Tuesday that O'Donnell risked driving off independents by saying "nutty things."

"We were looking at eight to nine seats in the Senate. We are now looking at seven to eight in my opinion," said Rove.

Several analysts believe Republicans are in reach of winning the 39 additional seats they need to capture the House of Representatives, but will fall short of the 10 seats needed to retake the Senate.

A Republican resurgence would likely end Obama's hopes of emulating the historic reforms he has enacted so far, and whip up a bitter political climate ahead of his expected 2012 reelection bid.

The White House sought to exploit the intra-party Republican "squabble," which spokesman Robert Gibbs said was posing "stark choices" for Americans.

"There is a very vociferous debate going on inside the Republican Party for the hearts and minds of Republican voters," Gibbs said.

Yet the deck still seems heavily stacked against Democrats, who many voters blame for America's sluggish recovery, and unemployment of 9.6 percent, despite Obama saying the economic blight is down to ex-president George W. Bush.

Obama's approval ratings are meanwhile languishing in the mid 40s range, an dicey position since as even popular first term presidents historically get a rebuke from voters in mid-term polls.

The president also said Wednesday that Republicans should stop "playing games" and back an extension to middle class tax cuts instead of holding up the move because he wants to exempt the richest Americans from the plan.

"Right now we could decide that every American household would receive a tax cut on the first 250,000 dollars of their income," Obama said in a statement in the White House Rose Garden.

"But once again, leaders across the aisle are saying no, they want to hold these middle class tax cuts hostage until they get an additional tax cut for the wealthiest two percent of Americans."

The debate over tax cuts first passed by the Bush administration

which expire this year unless Congress votes to extend them, is becoming the central issue of the bitterly-fought congressional election.

Republicans however say that raising taxes on people who earn over 250,000 dollars a year makes little sense at a time when the lagging economy needs all the spending power it can get.

They also say that some members of the Democratic caucus, some from conservative states, are also uneasy about Obama's approach, which they maintain could harm small businesses.

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