Obama tells critics: I’ve always been a populist

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama has clarified that he didn’t have to shift gears to adopt a more populist tone, as speculated by many, but has always been a populist.

“Some journalists have asked in recent weeks, ‘Is he trying to change his message? Is he trying to get more populist? Is this a strategy?” Fox News quoted Obama, as saying during a speech in Tampa. I’ve got some news of my own here. I’ve been working for working folks my entire adult life…and fighting for people all across the United States of America,” he added.

Obama was responding to coverage such as this post here on Hotsheet, which noted that he used the word “fight” or “fighting” more than 20 times in a speech in Ohio Friday and that he “took an aggressive, populist tone” in his rhetoric.

“The political parties and the media haven’t been helping, they’ve been making it worse,” he complained of the tone in Washington.

Obama seemed to be in a jovial mood in Tampa, where he answered several questions in support of U.S. support for Israel and gay rights.

He was joined by Vice President Joe Biden, who joked: “You answer all of the tough questions, and I will hold the coat.” (ANI)