Obama focuses on Colo. wildfires

President Barack Obama won a major victory this week when the Supreme Court upheld his health care law, but it was Republicans – and Republicans alone — who were eager to discuss the decision during Saturday’s dueling radio addresses.

The president made no mention of the health care law in his weekly address, focusing instead on the wildfires ravaging Colorado. After touring the damaged areas in Colorado, Obama emphasized American unity and pledged his administration would use all of its resources to fight the fires and help the affected areas to recover.


The wildfires have destroyed more than 30 square miles in Colorado and other western states and have grown large enough to be seen from space. Obama declared the wildfires a major disaster Thursday, a designation which made Colorado eligible for more federal emergency funding.

“And one of the things I’ve done here, in addition to saying thank you to these firefighters, is to let them know that all of America has their back,” Obama said in his Saturday address. “One of the things that happens here in America is when we see our fellow citizens in trouble and having difficulty, we come together as one American family, as one community.

“But this is a good reminder of what makes us Americans. We don’t just look out for ourselves; we look out for each other,” Obama said. Obama acknowledged the irregular nature of his weekly address, which frequently focus on policy proposals or the debate du jour in Washington.

“I know this is a little bit unusual — we don’t usually do weekly addresses like this, but I thought it was a good opportunity for us to actually focus attention on a problem that’s going on here in Colorado Springs,” Obama said. “We never know when it might be our community that’s threatened, and it’s important that we’re there for them.”

Republicans opted for a more conventional address Saturday, with Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) excoriating the president’s health care law and pledging to battle it in the weeks ahead.

“There should be no doubt: Republicans in Congress will fight to repeal the president’s failed health care law,” Barrasso said. “In the middle of a tough economy, President Obama passed a health care law that has made our economy even worse.”

Barrasso also played up Chief Justice John Roberts’s argument that the law’s mandate for individuals to buy health insurance was a tax, picking up a line of argument Republicans have emphasized since the ruling was released.

“On Thursday, I was in the courtroom as the Supreme Court ruled that the president’s health care law is what the president claimed it was not: a new tax,” Barrasso said. “Now, all of America knows the truth.”