Obama State Of The Union Address: President Reportedly Threatened To Blame Republicans

Frustrated Obama Reportedly Threatened To Blame Republicans
House Speaker John Boehner listens as President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address in front of a joint session of Congress Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, Pool)
House Speaker John Boehner listens as President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address in front of a joint session of Congress Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, Pool)

President Barack Obama was reportedly so frustrated with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) during fiscal cliff negotiations this week, he threatened to blame Republicans in a very public setting.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Mr. Obama repeatedly lost patience with the speaker as negotiations faltered. In an Oval Office meeting last week, he told Mr. Boehner that if the sides didn't reach agreement, he would use his inaugural address and his State of the Union speech to tell the country the Republicans were at fault.

Obama urged Congress on Friday to pass a smaller measure to avert the fiscal cliff after Boehner pulled his "plan B" Thursday "because it did not have sufficient support" from Republicans.

Despite his failure to muscle his fiscal cliff fallback through the House, Boehner said he was "not" worried about his speakership.

“Listen, you have all heard me say this, and I have told my colleagues this. If you do the right things every day for the right reasons, the right things will happen,” Boehner said at a press conference Friday.

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