AP, San Francisco :President Barack Obama praised Democratic lawmakers for having his back through some politically tough votes and encouraged supporters to help elect more of them in November.”A Democratic Congress is good for America,” he said Friday. Obama also criticized Senate Republicans for refusing to consider his Supreme Court nominee and said GOP presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz aren’t “outliers” but are simply parroting what some congressional Republicans have said for years.Obama didn’t mention that votes taken by House Democrats, led by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, to muscle his economic recovery plan and health care law through Congress early in his first term ended up souring the public and costing Democrats the House majority.”I’ve done a lot of tough stuff since I’ve been president,” Obama told about 100 supporters who rose to their feet and chanted his “Yes We Can” campaign slogan as he entered a high-ceilinged room at the Pacific Heights home of businessman and philanthropist Gordon Getty.”But I couldn’t do it unless I had outstanding legislators who had my back, even when it wasn’t politically convenient,” he said, praising Pelosi for possessing a combination of “idealism and just tough as nails conviction and savvy” that he said the country has benefited from during his presidency.
