The Democrat's political prospects may not be at their brightest point at the moment, but the GOP just keeps on serving them up softballs to hit out of the park:
Boehner said in an interview Monday that the financial reform bill is like "killing an ant with a nuclear weapon," and is now taking his lumps for the remark.
That was right down the center of the plate, and Obama was ready for it...
President Obama will say that he "was stunned to hear the leader of the Republicans in the House say that financial reform was like using a nuclear weapon to target an ant," according to his prepared remarks for a Town Hall event today.
That town hall event is in Racine, Wisconsin, and though unfortunately the President doesn't have much good economic news to point to at the moment, he does have the clueless and out-of-touch Republicans to give him plenty of material. He says:
He compared the financial crisis to an ant. The same financial crisis that led to the loss of nearly eight million jobs. The same crisis that cost people their homes and their lives savings.
And just to mix my sports metaphors a bit, he goes on to add the knockout punch:
If the Republican leader is that out of touch with the struggles facing the American people, he should come here to Racine and ask people if they think the financial crisis was an ant.
Greg Sargent at The Plum Line notes:
In recent days White House officials have been surprisingly quick to seize on remarks by GOPers in hopes of driving the news cycle with the same sort of ferocity the Obama campaign brought to similarly unfortunate gaffes by John McCain. It's another sign that the White House is shifting hard into full election mode -- and a preview of what's to come.
It's good to see that the administration is getting serious about the midterms. And as I've noted, the opposition is being quite helpful in that regard. Republicans just can't help but say stupid shit.
What the White House also has to realize, however, is that campaigning is just half the equation. You've also got to have something to campaign on. And this election cycle, that means jobs and overall economic recovery. Unless there is action on that front pretty quick, all the softballs in the world from the GOP won't make much of a difference.
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The town hall has concluded.