http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/obama-to-gop-im-still-around/article/2558374Obama to GOP: 'I'm still around'
By Brian Hughes | January 8, 2015 | 1:58 pm
President Obama had a clear message Thursday for Republicans predicting his political demise in 2015: “I’m still around.”
In a housing speech in Phoenix, Obama needled conservatives who accuse him of ignoring the message voters sent during disastrous midterm elections for Democrats in November.
"I know there's some folks in Washington that wish I'd be in space for a year,” Obama said, drawing a parallel to NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, the brother-in-law of former Democratic Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords, who the president met with before the speech, on the fourth anniversary of her shooting. “But I'm still around. I have some work to do.”
Obama’s housing speech was day two in a nationwide blitz to promote his State of the Union ideas, part of a broader attempt to champion recent economic gains.
The president focused primarily on his unilateral move to reduce mortgage costs for many first-time homebuyers. His administration is reducing annual mortgage premiums by 0.5 percentage points from 1.35 percent to 0.85 percent for Federal Housing Administration loans, which Obama says will save the average American family $900 a year.
"I’m going to take a new action to help even more responsible families buy their first new home,” Obama said. “We’ve got to stay at it.”
However, Republicans counter that the move is fiscally irresponsible and that the government’s role in the housing sector should be further reduced.
Obama lately has demanded more credit for a rebounding economy, with the unemployment rate below 6 percent and his administration predicting additional gains on the horizon. Democrats have criticized the White House for not effectively selling the president's economic prescriptions.
Aware of those concerns, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro took direct aim at critics while introducing the president Thursday.
“History has shown,” Castro insisted, “that he’s been right and they’ve been off base.”
