Washington: A combative President Barack Obama challenged a divided Congress on Thursday to unite behind his jobs bill or get ready to be run "out of town" by angry voters.
Hoping to use public frustration and economic worry as leverage, he called his proposal an insurance plan against a painful return to recession.
In a news conference long on restatements of his ideas, Obama laid bare the dynamic that now is Washington: The era of compromise is over.
Frustrated over getting nowhere with Republicans, Obama demanded that they explain themselves to the country and promised to keep "hammering way until something gets done".
Despite Obama's taunts, Republicans showed no signs of switching positions. Instead, they pressed unsuccessfully for a symbolic vote later in the day so they could demonstrate their opposition to the bill the president submitted three weeks ago. They also predicted they would prevail this week when Democrats try to advance a reworked version, which Obama supports, with a tax on millionaires. Speaking at a forum just about the same time as Obama, House Speaker John Boehner said the president had decided to "give up on governing, give up on leading". Boehner said: "We're legislating. He's campaigning."
Obama's news conference marked a continuation of his recent feistiness, and his party's pre-election-year attempt to depict Republicans as protectors of the rich at the expense of the jobless. Obama plans to keep it up through his campaign as he seeks a second term amid persistently high unemployment.
The question
Lamenting political gamesmanship, Obama defended his own tactic of campaigning for a jobs bill that appears to have no chance of passing as it is.
When asked about his willingness to negotiate to help the millions of unemployed, he said he had gone out of his way every time with Republicans, to little avail.
"The question, then, is, will Congress do something?" the president said.
"If Congress does something, then I can't run against a do-nothing Congress.
"If Congress does nothing, then it's not a matter of me running against them. I think the American people will run them out of town, because they are frustrated."
