Obama takes combative tone in town-hall meeting in NH

February 3, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

NASHUA, N.H. (AP) — President Barack Obama branded Republicans on Tuesday as electoral opportunists more concerned about their own interests than the people’s, taking a political risk by escalating criticism of the very lawmakers he’s urging to work with him.

The newly combative approach is a double-edged sword for Obama.

Fearful of losses in the November congressional and gubernatorial elections, Democrats have been urging Obama to throw tougher punches at Republicans. Those calls grew louder after the Democrats’ stunning loss two weeks ago of a Senate seat in Massachusetts, seen as an indictment of Democratic control over Congress and the White House.

The president complied Tuesday, choosing to do so in a state where two House seats and a Senate seat are in play this fall.

Citing examples, he took Republicans to task for switching positions on important issues just to score points with voters.

“You’re out of patience with this kind of business as usual,” he told his 1,600-member audience. “You want us to start worrying less about our jobs and more about your jobs.”

But even if Obama notches some rhetorical wins, he risks alienating people at the same time.

As a candidate, Obama built a winning brand as a change agent. That outsider, reformer image is difficult for any politician to maintain once the messy obligations and barriers of governing take over; it is even easier to lose once the bare-knuckled zingers start flying.

What’s more, Obama’s sharper tone comes at a time of deepening voter ire about Washington’s politics of division and inability to solve pressing problems.

Sensing opportunity, Republicans have taken note. Countering Obama’s portrayal of himself as above the political fray, the Republican National Committee sent out video of what it called the president’s “perpetual campaigning” of late.

So the White House is trying to tread carefully.

As Obama seeks to right his presidency and his agenda amid falling poll numbers and ballot-box losses, he and his advisers have concluded that the gloves must come off more often. He intends to unleash more tough talk for Republicans in the coming weeks, under the theme that they, too, must be held accountable for solving the nation’s ills, a senior administration official said.

Since last Wednesday’s State of the Union address, Obama has had two campaign-style town-hall meetings. In both he has called out Republicans for opposing him on health care, federal spending and other issues. He also spoke at a meeting of House Republican lawmakers, where each side aired its complaints against the other, sometimes sharply.

The idea is to stop allowing Republicans to define the White House through their nearly unanimous opposition to Obama’s proposals and to start using them as a foil to better define themselves, the official said.

As Obama put it Tuesday in New Hampshire: “You can’t walk away from your responsibilities to confront the challenges facing this country because you think it’s good short-term politics.”

But he also will continue to reach out to Republicans, asking them to work with him and defining areas where cooperation may be possible. This serves two purposes: to put Republicans on the spot and to show himself as a willing conciliator.