Obama: Me Playing More Golf With Boehner Won’t Fix Washington

President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, are on the first hole as they play golf at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Saturday, June 18, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
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President Barack Obama is bothered by pundits who suggest he could fix Washington gridlock if he plays more golf with Speaker John Boehner (R-OH).

Or so he told donors at a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee fundraiser in Chicago on Thursday night, previewing the remark by saying he’s a “tough guy” who isn’t bothered by the “slinging and hurling stones and arrows” at him.

“There is one thing that bothers me, which is when I hear folks saying, oh, you know, if you just play golf with John Boehner more — and we’re just trying harder to be more bipartisan, then we’d get more stuff done,” the president said, according to a transcript. “That’s not the problem. On every issue we are more than happy to sit down in reasonable fashion and compromise. The problem is not that we’re too mean or we’re too partisan. The problem is I don’t have enough votes — full stop.”

He added: “This Congress makes the do-nothing Congress look like the New Deal.”

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