President Obama tore into House Minority Leader John Boehner today for comparing the financial crisis to an ant: “He can’t be that out of touch.”
After Boehner said that financial reform is like “killing an ant with a nuclear weapon,” Obama joined the chorus of attacks against the Republican’s remarks, saying at a town hall in Racine, Wisconsin:
The leader of the Republicans in the House said that financial reform was like using a nuclear weapon to target an ant. That’s what he said. He compared the financial crisis to an ant. This is the same financial crisis that led to the loss of nearly eight million jobs. The same crisis that cost people their homes their life savings. He can’t be that out of touch.
Obama continued: “And if he is, then he’s got to come here to Racine,” adding “do you think the financial crisis was an ant and we just need an ant-swatter to fix this thing?”
Watch:
The President also hit Republicans in general for opposing financial reform. “You would think this would be a bipartisan issue,” he said, but “lately we’ve been having to wrangle around what used to be pretty noncontroversial things.”
Regarding the BP oil spill, Obama continued his criticism of Republicans, referencing Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), “the top Republican on the energy committee,” who “apologized to BP” because of the “tragedy” of the $20 billion escrow fund that BP is setting up to pay damage claims resulting from the spill.
Obama said: “Now I gotta say, they pulled it back after. He meant it, but then they kind of walked it back.”
