Obama Says Democrats Shouldn't Hide From His Agenda

Well, what else would you expect him to say?

President Obama gave a live radio interview today to Michael Smerconish, who asked if Democrats shouldn't just own up to the policies the party instituted instead of running away from health care and the stimulus.

Obama's response: "My strong belief, and this is just a personal theory, is that you wake up every day, you do what you think is right, and you make sure that you're not embarrased by what you thought was right even if it's not politically expedient, and that's how I've tried to govern...

"We should be clear and strong about the steps we took to save this country from a second Great Depression...these are things that I want everyone to know about, and obviously as long as unemployment is as high as it is people are still gonna be frustrated...

"The key question for folks who are looking forward is what is the agenda to bring about growth and expand our middle class over the next two years...it's very hard to figure out from the Republicans what that agenda will be. Nobody believes that tax cuts for the wealthiest two percent is gonna [improve] our unemployment rate...nobody thinks, by the way, that Republicans have a very good track record when it comes to dealing with deficits."

Democrats set out, as soon as the president's approval ratings started to dip, to pose the midterms as a choice between two paths for the future. The messaging plan was to get voters to compare policies moving forward.

Obama is sticking to that script, and Democratic campaigns have tried valiantly to draw sharp distinctions on forward-looking policies, pointing out Republican candidates who want to pare down Social Security and Medicare, and accusing Republicans of favoring outsourcing.

These policy-driven attack lines, however, have in many cases failed to stick.

But even looking into the past, Obama isn't apologizing for anything, and he doesn't think Democratic candidates should apologize, either.