Obama is president of 'all the people'

usatoday.com

President Obama's spokesman responded to the Mitt Romney video today by saying that Obama is president of all the people. "When you're president of the United States, you are president of all the people -- not just the people who voted for you," said White House spokesman Jay Carney. Meanwhile, Obama's Twitter feed said: "We can't afford a president who says 'my job is not to worry about' 47% of the American people." Carney said he hasn't asked Obama if he has seen the video. As reported in our On Politics blog, the newly disclosed videotape of a Romney fundraiser shows the GOP candidate saying that President Obama automatically gets 47% of the vote because of people who are "dependent on the government" and "pay no income tax." The tape has roiled the presidential race with only seven weeks to go. During the White House press briefing, Carney said that Obama did not worry about whether workers or executives voted for him when he sough the auto bailout; the same outlook applied to the health care bill, Carney said. "He's fighting for every American," Carney said. As for Romney's comment that too many Americans see themselves as victims, Carney said: "The president certainly doesn't think that men and women on Social Security are irresponsible or victims; that students aren't responsible or victims ... He certainly doesn't think that middle class families are paying too little in taxes." Romney has stood by his comments, telling reporters last night in California that "the president believes in what I've described as a government-centered society, where government plays a larger and larger role, provides for more and more of the needs of the individuals. "I happen to believe instead in a free enterprise, free individual society where people pursuing their dreams are able to employ one another, build enterprises, build the strongest economy in the world," Romney said. Obama himself may get asked about the comments later today when he appears with talk show host David Letterman. The president's campaign manager, Jim Messina, issued a statement on the Romney tape: "It's shocking that a candidate for President of the United States would go behind closed doors and declare to a group of wealthy donors that half the American people view themselves as â??victims,' entitled to handouts, and are unwilling to take â??personal responsibility' for their lives. It's hard to serve as president for all Americans when you've disdainfully written off half the nation."