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President Obama gave his first press conference of the new year Tuesday, and Iran, the campaign, and Rush Limbaugh were high on everyone's minds. While the White House previewed the conference by heralding a new plan to allow those with federally backed mortgages to refinance with better rates, and Obama spoke about the plan to open the conference, questions immediately transitioned to foreign policy.
His most notable criticims of the Republicans competing in Super Tuesday contests today came in response to a question on Romney's criticism of Obama's policy in Iran:
Now what's said on the campaign trail, those folks don't have a lot of responsibilities. They're not commander in chief. And when I see the casualness with which some of these folks talk about war, i'm reminded of the costs involved in war. I'm reminded of the decision that I have to make in terms of sending our young men and women into battle and the impact that has on their lives, the impact that has on our national security, the impact it has on our economy. This is not a game and there's nothing casual about it.
On another front, though, he didn't take the election bait. A reporter pointed out that Mitt Romney said Obama is America's "most feckless president since Carter," and asked Obama what he'd say to Romney in response. "Good luck tonight," Obama replied before laughing awkwardly and moving on to the new question. Perhaps the fecklessness of that answer was ironic?