Obama's 'feisty' Labor Day speech

The president surprised many observers with an unscripted comment that special interests treat him "like a dog." Who's this new Obama?

President Barack Obama gives a speech at a Labor Day rally September 6.
(Image credit: Getty)

In an unusually hard-edged Labor Day speech before a union crowd in Wisconsin, President Obama criticized Washington Republicans as the party of "No We Can't" and taunted the GOP House leader, Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), as "the man who thinks he will be speaker." (See speech video below.) Obama also called out the Beltway's "powerful special interests" with the off-the-cuff, slightly enigmatic remark: "They’re not always happy with me. They talk about me like a dog." What should we make of Obama's "aggressive" new tone?

Obama's standing up for endangered Dems: Labor Day is the traditional campaign kickoff for November elections, says Robert Hendin at CBS News, and Obama's spirited battle cry was just "what many Democrats have hoped he'd have done all year: Fight back against Republican opposition and focus on issue number one for voters, the economy."

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