Speaker of the House John Boehner accused President Obama of having “thrown in the towel” on governing to turn his focus to campaigning for reelection at a Washington Ideas Forum Thursday.
“Mr. President, why have you given up on the country and decided to campaign full-time?” Boehner asked.
Disappointed with the summer’s negotiations on the debt ceiling limit, the Speaker said he continues to be willing to “sit down with the President any day, any time to seek common ground” and even put revenues on the table as long as the President agrees to address entitlement reform.
“It takes two to tango, and the President never said ‘yes,’” Boehner said.
A couple topics where Boehner and Obama can agree on, however, are Afghanistan and the Chinese currency manipulation bill.
Boehner reinforced his argument against passing the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Bill that would punish countries like China for manipulating their currency, something he says the President agrees with.
“For the Congress to pass legislation to force the Chinese to do what is arguably very difficult to do I think is wrong, is dangerous and could start a trade war,” he said.
The Speaker is also supportive of Obama’s decisions in Iraq and Afghanistan saying Obama “has done just fine” in continuing to take on the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
As for the super committee he helped create to find $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, Boehner said he is “firmly committed to ensuring that the [committee] come to an outcome,” emphasizing that no one wants automatic spending cuts to happen.
Boehner also commented on the Republican presidential campaign supporting Sarah Palin’s decision not to run for president in 2012.
“She made the right decision for herself,” he said, but added that he hopes Palin will campaign for other Republican candidates.