Obama Hits Back at His Liberal Critics

CBS

Updated at 5 p.m. ET

President Obama today defiantly defended his compromise plan to extend the Bush tax cuts, insisting in a news conference, "This isn't the politics of the moment, this has to do with what can we get done right now."

He lashed out at his critics on the left, who have accused the president of abandoning his Democratic principles by cutting a deal with Republicans.

"This notion that somehow we are willing to compromise too much -- this is the public option debate all over again," the president said. "We pass something that Democrats have been fighting for for over 100 years, but because there was a provision in there that they didn't get...somehow that was a sign of weakness and compromise."

He continued, "If that's the standard by which we are measuring success or core principles, then let's face it, we will never get anything done. People will have the satisfaction of having a purist position and no victories for the American people."

Yesterday, Mr. Obama unveiled a tentative deal with Republicans to extend the Bush tax cuts -- set to expire at the end of the month -- for two years. The plan would extend all of the tax cuts, even though Mr. Obama promised on the campaign trail to let them expire for the wealthiest Americans in the name of fiscal responsibility. The deal also includes a 13-month extension of unemployment benefits and a payroll tax cut, among other things.

Watch the Full Press Conference
Obama: Tax Cuts For Wealthy GOP "Holy Grail"
Obama "Itching For A Fight" On Issues

Mr. Obama yesterday said it was time to end the "stalemate" over the Bush tax cuts, but the plan has been met with acrimony from both the left and the right.

The president said today that he was fulfilling the "promise I made during the campaign, the promise I made as president" -- to ensure that the tax cuts would be extended for the middle class. He acknowledged that he often complained this year that Republicans were holding the middle class "hostage" by resisting an extension of middle class tax cuts without an extension for wealthy Americans as well.

"I think it's tempting not to negotiate with hostage takers -- unless the hostage gets harmed," Mr. Obama said. "Then people will question the wisdom of that strategy. In this case the hostage was the American people."

Watch President Obama remark that Republicans are "hostage takers" in the video at left.

Without the 60 Senate votes needed to bypass a Republican filibuster, passing a tax cut extension for just the middle class is not possible, the president said. After trying to compel some Republicans in the Senate to support his preferred plan, Mr. Obama said he has "not been able to budge them."

"On the Republican side, this is their holy grail -- tax cuts for the wealthy," he said. "Republicans feel this is the single most important thing they have to fight for as a party."

In fact, as Mr. Obama's critics on the left have pointed out, Republican leaders earlier in the year indicated they could support the Democratic plan if given no other choice. "If the only option I have is to vote for some of those tax reductions, I'll vote for it," House Republican Leader John Boehner said in September on CBS' "Face the Nation."

Yet Mr. Obama said that fighting Republicans on the issue would have led to a protracted battle, which would have allowed the tax cuts expire at the end of the month -- creating an average tax increase of $3,000 per family. He insisted this was more than an "abstract debate."

"My responsibility as president is to do what's right for the American people," he said. "There are people... just barely making it on the paycheck they've got, and when that paycheck gets smaller on Jan. 1, they're going to have to scramble to pay the bills."

Clearly exasperated with liberal lawmakers and pundits who have expressed outrage over the compromise, Mr. Obama said, "This is a big country. Not everybody agrees with us -- I know that shocks people. The New York Times editorial page does not permeate all across America... It means that in order to get stuff done, we're going to compromise."

Watch CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer discuss the opposition to President Obama's plan with the National Journal's Marc Ambinder and Politico's Jonathan Allen on "Washington Unplugged," in the video at left.

The plan costs a hefty $900 billion over two years -- and none of it is paid for, creating a stark contrast to the calls for deficit reduction from both the president and members of Congress have made this year. Some contend passing tax cuts will politically benefit the president and his party, though others argue working with Republicans will backfire for the president.

The president has some significant work to do to convince his Democratic colleagues in Congress that the plan is worth supporting. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said today he was not confident the Senate would sign off on the deal as it stands, CBS News Capitol Hill Producer John Nolen reports.

"I think we're going to have to do some more work on it," he said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said today that the House response to the plan "has not been very good," CBS News Senior Political Producer Jill Jackson reports.

When asked whether she would bring the framework to the floor if the Senate passes it, Pelosi said she doesn't even know what the floor schedule is. "We didn't realize that an agreement was going to be announced," she said.

If this deal is passed, Mr. Obama will have to fight the same battle in 2012 when the tax cuts would once again be set to expire.

"When they expire in two years, I will fight to end them," he said. "We're going to keep on having this debate."

Watch CBSNews.com Editor-in-Chief Dan Farber and political reporter Brian Montopoli discuss the effects of the tax cut compromise:

Obama Calls for Tax Code Overhaul
House Dem Peter Welch: Obama's Tax Cut Plan Will Backfire
What Deficit? Tax Deal Comes With Major Costs
Tax Cut Deal Reveals Obama 2.0
Who Stands in the Way of Obama's Tax Cut Deal?
For Obama, Championing Compromise May Be Lonely
Obama: Deal with GOP on Tax Cuts
Tax Cuts For All Americans?
GOP Win on Taxes Leaves Some Dems Fuming
Obama Faces Liberal Revolt over Tax Cut Deal

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Stephanie Condon is a political reporter for CBSNews.com. You can read more of her posts here. Follow Hotsheet on Facebook and Twitter.

[rleb2002]

He said, he is keeping his promises!! YES, but in the way REPUBLICAN WANT THEM!! Obama should CHANGE PARTY" He is always ready to forger his CAMPAIGN PROMISES , and take whatever republicans offer him!
What ABOUT DE DEFICIT??? Obama , and republicans , forgot , and forget about the deficit, when, the powerful and the multimillionaires are AFFECTED!! They got together to save those in the top, to let them go, the way they want!! The middle CLASS AND THE-POOR , have all the goberment BUGET on their BACKS. And OBAMA didn't CARE any MORE!!.

[tks61]

Can Obama step in an make an apply an emergency act and forget the morons that are jacking around?

[tks61]

this whole tax deal sucks. I could care less about the millionaires it is the people who need the unemployment while they look for the jobs(there are none and when you apply there are more than five people also applying for the same job!)This bill has to pass!!

[Scarlett60]

I wish I could agree with most of you. But in my situation, I am the only person in the household now bringing in any unemployment. I make $13 too much to qualify for food stamps, I have had to reduce my premium on my car insurance to something I can barely afford, and I am past due on my electric and gas and just pay enough to keep it all on just to get by. If Obama (and trust me, I am not fond of him) has to make a deal with the Devil in order to let me keep my benefits until I can convince someone to hire me, so be it. We all know the republicans are crooks, and that the wealthy should not get this tax cut, especially after hearing the kind of money they earn. They DO NOT spend the money or have their businesses hire people, they keep reinvesting their money to get richer and richer. But that can be fought in two years when it comes up again. There will be time. People should be back at work by then, and he won't be pressured to protect the majority of Americans who are one check away from being homeless.

[Mobrien05]

"Thinkerwiz" Being a republican is not about been greedy. It is about understanding simple economics and the balance of power. take a step back in time when Obama was pushing through Obamacare. Scott Brown was elected and President Obama figured out a way to get Obamacare passed without a vote. At the time he said his plan to pay for it was to let the Bush tax cutes expire. Simple economics: before you make a big purchase like Obamacare you save. he could have saved a couple of ways, decreasing the size of government, working on the tax credits first and there are probably other things he could have done to pay for Obamacare first. He chose not to, and the result for not listening to the majority that did not want Obamacare the democrats lost their majority in November. Now everyone has to work together. You will get some of what you want and the republican will get some of what they want.

[roth5101]

President Obama did the right thing for the middle class even though the Republican thugs made him include their agenda.
Hope everyone sees the true colors of the Republican party and who they are.

Roth 5101

[roth5101]

President Obama did the right thing for the middle class even though the Republican thugs made him include their agenda.
Hope everyone sees the true colors of the Republican party and who they are.

Roth 5101

[steeepe]

At some point, it's better to do nothing than to do wrong.

[1stwolf]

We are the only ones that can change how Washington works by voting all the greedy politicians who accept lobbyist pay-offs and bank millions for themselves and their families.
Remove congressmen and senators that have been in office for ten to twenty years continually denying this nation a path toward twenty-first century prosperity.

[Void-Master]

Good day all. Work to do...

[tks61]

Void, how cute. If you think I am not looking for a job you are nuts!!Be very careful what goes around comes around!! I know I have seen it happen!