Senior White House adviser Brian Deese trashed Republicans in Congress this week, saying the party’s first two months have been marked by a “defensive posture.”
Deese also boasted about the administration’s “points on the board.”
“Virtually all of the political dynamic of the last couple of months and sort of the defining feature of the initial period of the new Republican majority is one of them in defensive posture, responding to the president’s agenda,” Deese told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published Sunday.
“From our perspective, obviously, it’s better to be on offense, both because that’s where the president wants to be, but also you can score when you’re on offense.”
Democrats in Congress have won a few victories already this year. They stopped Republicans from defunding Obama’s executive order on immigration, upheld his veto on the Keystone XL pipeline, watched as Republicans foiled their own attempt to show unity on a 20-week abortion ban, and are now tying up a human trafficking bill over standard abortion language.
“A function of the new majority being on defense for this period is they have put no points on the board,” Deese told The Wall Street Journal. “They have moved no affirmative parts of their agenda forward. That’s a striking thing a couple months into their agenda.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the interview makes Obama’s unwillingness to compromise clear. “That doesn’t sound like a team that wants to work with Congress,” he told The Wall Street Journal. “We’re over here passing bills, not thumping our chest to the press.”
Heritage Action spokesperson Dan Holler warned Republicans not to “tinker around the edges” when pushing their agenda. “Far too many Republicans seem eager to find ‘common ground’ with the Obama administration,” he told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “No such ground exists — at least not for conservatives.”
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