Politico‘s Sherman and Bresnahan, doing what comes naturally to many reporters at that institution, already have an insider-y account of the president’s meeting with House Republicans today. You can read it all if you have an interest in this sort of thing. But what really comes across again and again is that House GOPers are really, really upset at Obama for criticizing them–nay, playing politics over the budget!
It seems the president did not fire back by noting the savage hatred that’s been sent his way by the solons over the years, or directly question the planted axiom that there’s anything less political about the frantic gyrations of Republicans over budget and tax policies. I don’t know if he promised to be less “political” in the future, or just waited in vain for lightning to strike the complainers. But I’m reasonably sure he did not satisfy those who seemed to be longing for a presidential abandonment of the entire Democratic ticket in 2014.
I guess this is what happens when a large group of professional politicians get it into their heads that they are uniquely representing the national interest (or perhaps just the “real Americans” who are fighting to save the country from those people) while their opponents are “playing politics.”
