President Barack Obama took his criticism of congressional Republicans to a higher pitch on Wednesday, imploring them to “stop just hatin’ all the time” as they voted to sue him over charges he has overstepped the bounds of his office.
In a party-line, 225-201 vote, the House of Representatives authorized the Republican-drafted lawsuit, which will focus on unilateral changes Obama has made to the Affordable Care Act, his signature health care law. All Democrats and five Republicans opposed the measure.
But Obama, in a campaign-style speech, made fun of his political adversaries, laughing as he accused them of wasting time instead of addressing more pressing issues.
“Stop being mad all the time. Stop, stop, stop just hatin’ all the time,” he said of Republicans, drawing loud cheers from a raucous crowd of about 1,500 in an ornate theater in Kansas City.
Obama disparaged the lawsuit effort as nothing but election-year political theater and a distraction from issues such as highway construction or the southwestern border crisis.
“There’s a bunch of stuff that needs to get done,” he said. “Unfortunately, I think the main vote … that they’ve scheduled for today is whether or not they decide to sue me for doing my job.”