President Obama: It's the Republicans' fault

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Politico:

President Obama: It's the Republicans' fault

President Barack Obama gives the eighth news conference of his presidency. | John Shinkle Close
By JOSH GERSTEIN | 9/10/10 11:00 AM EDT

President Barack Obama used a rare news conference Friday to criticize Republicans for obstructing the country’s economic recovery, but he also lamented his failure to change the tone of the political discourse in Washington.

He called on Republicans to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire for the wealthiest Americans – saying they are “holding middle-class tax relief hostage because they're insisting we’ve got to give tax relief to millionaires and billionaires.”

“We came into office with a different view," he says. “We believe in cutting taxes for middle-class families and small-business owners. We've done that.”

During the 75-minute session, Obama also fielded a series of sensitive questions relating to Islam, including queries about a Florida pastor’s plans to burn Qurans and the proposal to build a mosque near the ground zero in New York. As he answered with a call to heed the American tradition of religious tolerance, Obama also went out of his way to emphasize his own belief in Christianity—a faith polls show many voters seem to doubt.

But much of the unusual solo outing in the East Room was dominated by the economy, and Obama’s efforts to fix it with just eight weeks until midterm elections where his party could take a shellacking, possibly losing the House and even the Senate. He talked up his economic proposals — $180 billion in tax breaks and infrastructure spending – but sidestepped a question on whether it amounted to a second “stimulus.”