Things are looking fairly bleak for Democrats — they’re outnumbered in both chambers of Congress and face a new budget battle with Republicans — but President Obama wants them to cheer up. In an address on Thursday night at the House Democratic Issues Conference in Philadelphia, Obama tried to rally his party around his forthcoming budget proposal, saying it will further the nation’s economic recovery. He said his plan offers an intelligent way to reverse the automatic cuts known as sequestration, which don’t “differentiate between smart government spending and dumb government spending.”
He continued his pep talk by saying he’s “happy to take some of the blame” for Democrats’ midterm losses and taking some jabs at the Republicans’ recent focus on income inequality. “Even though their policies have not caught up with it, their rhetoric is starting to sound pretty Democratic,” he said, according to the Washington Post.
Obama also referenced Mitt Romney, who’s suggested poverty will be a central plank in his possible 2016 campaign. “We’ve got a former presidential candidate on the other side who suddenly is just deeply concerned about poverty,” said Obama. “That’s great. Let’s go. Come on. Let’s do something about it.” Don’t get too excited, Romneybot — that’s something humans call sarcasm.
