"Phony Scandals" Won't Get In The Way Of Progress, Obama Says
CBS News
By Stephanie Condon
June 26, 2014, 6:07 PM
Excerpt:
President Obama on Thursday charged that lawmakers in Congress are too focused on "ginning up a base" before the midterm elections, but he pleaded with a town hall audience gathered in a park in Minneapolis to resist the urge to grow cynical.
"It must feel like sometimes you're just forgotten" by Washington, Mr. Obama said, with congressman pursuing "Washington fights."
"They're fabricated issues, phony scandals," he said. It's not on the level, and that must feel frustrating. It makes people cynical, and it makes people turned off from the idea that anything can get done."
The president didn't mention anything specifically, but the White House has been highly critical of the Republican-led House's insistence that the misconduct at the IRS may have been politically motivated. The White House also criticized the lawsuit that House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, plans to file against the president for overstepping his executive authority. Boehner has yet to say what specific presidential actions he plans to challenge. The administration has also, in the wake of GOP attacks, defended its handling of the recently-captured Benghazi suspect.
"We've got a party on the other side whose only rationale, motivation seems to be opposing me," Mr. Obama said Thursday. "Despite all that, we're making progress."
The president cited the fact that employment numbers have steadily improved, while more Americans are getting health insurance, among other things. His positive economic message, however, comes one day after the Commerce Department announced that the economy contracted by nearly 3 percent in the first quarter of 2014.
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