President Obama took his party on a victory lap Friday during his address to the Democratic National Committee. He touted job growth, shrinking deficits, and the auto industry's recovery as evidence that the policies his party has been fighting for over the past six years have made a difference.
It has, he acknowledged, been an uphill climb, as the Democratic Party policies met with a wall of opposition from GOP leaders in Congress.
"Now that their grand predictions of doom and gloom and Armageddon haven't come true, the sky hasn't fallen, chicken little is quiet," Obama said.
The president argued that his party's middle-class focus has worked so well that Republicans now are looking to emulate it, but he challenged Republicans to do more than talk the talk. "Walk the walk," Obama demanded.
"I think the shift in rhetoric they are engaging in is good if it actually leads them to take different actions. If it doesn't, then it is just spin," Obama said. "Trying to bambooze folks."
He challenged Republicans to work with him to pass paid-sick-leave legislation and raise the minimum wage, if they are truly worried about income inequality.
"Don't stand in the way," Obama said. "Give America a raise. Let's go."