Politics

Obama Girds for GOP Confrontation

Tries out new, populist message in Monday speech.

President Obama may finally have given “the professional left” what it wanted: His speech Monday calling for deficit reduction was “the clearest sign yet that Obama has taken a very sharp populist turn as he seeks to frame the contrast between the parties heading into 2012,” Greg Sargent writes at The Washington Post. Whereas the president, previously, has made clear at the start of negotiations his willingness to cede ground on core liberal principles, now he is standing by them and actively seeking a confrontation with Republicans over them. Sargent points out that Obama’s gambit isn’t only to please his liberal base; it’s to win over independents too, who largely support raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans.