NYT: Calling Radicalism by Its Name
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/04/opinion/calling-radicalism-by-its-name.html?ref=todayspaper
Calling Radicalism by Its Name
Published: April 3, 2012
President Obamas fruitless three-year search for compromise with the Republicans
ended in a thunderclap of a speech on Tuesday, as he denounced the party and its presidential candidates for cruelty and extremism. He accused his opponents of imposing on the country a radical vision that is antithetical to our entire history as a land of opportunity.
Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential front-runner, has embraced a House budget plan that is little more than thinly veiled social Darwinism, the president said, a Trojan horse disguised as deficit reduction that would hurt middle- and lower-income Americans.
By gutting the very things we need to grow an economy thats built to last education and training, research and development, our infrastructure it is a prescription for decline, he said, speaking to a group of Associated Press editors and reporters in Washington.
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Mr. Obama provided a powerful signal on Tuesday that he intends to make this election about the Republican Partys failure to confront, what he called, the defining issue of our time: restoring a sense of economic security while giving everyone a fair shot, rather than enabling only a shrinking number of people to do exceedingly well. His remarks promise a tough-minded campaign that will call extremism and dishonesty by name.