On Sunday’s “State of the Union” on CNN, Speaker of the House John Boehner spoke about his relationship with Barack Obama, one that he described as “good” despite the president “picking fake fights” to score political points.
“Listen, the president and I have a very good relationship,” Boehner said. “And as a result, you know, I try to avoid personal attacks on the president. But let me say something: The president is getting some very bad advice from his campaign team, because he’s diminishing the presidency by picking fake fights, going after straw men every day.”
Those fights, Boehner said, involve taxes and energy markets.
“You know, we had the Buffett Rule,” he said. “You know, it went on for months. Even the president admitted it was a gimmick. And then we have the Rose Garden ceremony talking about manipulation in the oil markets, without one shred of evidence. And he has an entire administration to go after speculation or manipulation in the oil markets. And then they picked this student loan fight where there is no fight.”
“And the point I’ve been trying to make here in the last couple of weeks is that the president’s bigger than this. The presidency is important. America has big challenges — big fiscal challenges — and we’ve got big challenges for our economy. And the president ought to be working with Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill to address the big issues that affect the American people.”