President Barack Obama is a master of knowing his audience – even when it’s fellow politicians.
He served up a Republican roast to House Democratic leaders and donors in New York Thursday night, two weeks after Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her lieutenants griped that his anti-Washington fire can boomerang because it’s not targeted enough at the GOP. But his remarks to workers in Buffalo earlier in the day sounded a lot more like what House leaders had complained about.
Overall, the themes of Obama’s speeches were roughly the same: The economy was bad, and it’s getting better under his watch.
But in Buffalo, he took credit for the progress; in New York, he lauded the House Democrats for whom he was raising money.
And the tone and tenor were different.
It’s natural for the president’s remarks at a fundraiser to have “a slightly sharper edge” than those he delivers at non-political events, a White House official said.
But Democrats on Capitol Hill want him to wield that sharper edge at official events, too.
“I think the picture the president painted at the fundraiser of the direction Republicans want to take this country” and what Democrats have accomplished “is the kind of language we’d like to see more of,” said a House Democratic leadership aide. “But there’s still room for improvement.”
Pelosi and other House leaders told senior White House aides at a recent closed-door meeting that they felt the president was spending too much time bashing Washington without pointing the finger of blame at Republicans – a rhetorical nuance they argued could backfire by provoking voter anger at the party in charge in Congress. - Politico Story
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