Angry Obama attacks Democrat 'purists' on tax deal

An angry Barack Obama defended his tax deal with Republicans and hit back at critical fellow Democrats, warning them against becoming too ideologically pure and self-satisfied.

In an unusual show of emotion in his two-year presidency, the US president responded hotly at a news conference when a reporter asked him about liberal claims that he had broken campaign promises.

"Take a tally. Look at what I promised during the campaign. There's not a single thing that I haven't done or tried to do," Mr Obama said.

The deal provided the first big test of how Mr Obama will work out compromises with empowered Republicans as they take control of the House of Representatives and shrink their minority status in the Senate when the new Congress is seated in January.

Mr Obama struggled to prevent wholesale defections by fellow Democrats that could sink the tax deal if it comes to a vote in the closing weeks of the current Congress.

Democrats still have sizeable majorities although the party is dispirited and divided after last month's Republican election win.

Many Republican politicians seemed ready to embrace the compromise with Mr Obama and declare victory. The question was whether enough Democrats would join them in support, especially in the House of Representatives, where liberal resentment of the president's concessions on tax breaks for the wealthiest runs strong.

If Democrats kill the tax plan, it would mark a stunning defeat for Mr Obama and a huge political bet that voters will blame Republicans as much as Democrats for an impasse that leads to higher taxes from January 1 for millions of Americans.

Few on Capitol Hill believe Democrats will take that gamble. But liberal politicians' discontent is hard to measure in the wake of last month's big election setbacks.

Mr Obama and most in his party had insisted that across-the-board tax cuts that were put in place during the administration of George Bush should not be extended for wealthy Americans past their year-end expiry.

Democrats fought hard but lost the battle in Congress during the weekend to keep cuts in place for middle- and low-income taxpayers while ending them for the wealthy.

Mr Obama announced early yesterday that he had reached a compromise with Republicans that would keep the cuts in place for all Americans for two years in exchange for Republican votes to extend benefits for the long-term unemployed, which as of now will run out at the end of the year.

For Republicans, he said, "this is their holy grail, these tax cuts for the wealthy".

While clearly unhappy in having to make the deal, Mr Obama said he had no choice because Republicans were holding middle-class Americans hostage.

"It's tempting not to negotiate with hostage takers, unless the hostage gets harmed. Then, people will question the wisdom of that strategy," he said.

"In this case, the hostage was the American people and I was not willing to see them get harmed."

But Mr Obama reserved his most eloquent comments for the end of the White House news conference and his defence against critics on the left, warning them that they were setting a course for stalemate in the midst of the worst economy in eight decades.

Holding fast to "a purist position", he said, would allow Democrats "to feel good about ourselves and sanctimonious about how pure our intentions are and how tough we are".

But, he said, "That can't be the measure of how we think about public service. That can't be the measure of what it means to be a Democrat."

Despite the dressing down, Democratic leaders in Congress were downbeat about support for the tax deal.

After meeting with other Democratic leaders, House speaker Nancy Pelosi said that "so far the response has not been very good" to the proposed deal.

Another House Democratic leader, Rep Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, said he could not recommend the package to his colleagues.

Many House Democrats emerged from a spirited closed-door caucus last night and said they would have a difficult time supporting the package.

"I don't think that the president should count on Democratic votes to get this deal passed," said Rep Anthony Weiner of New York. "It's a bad deal that wasn't skilfully negotiated."