By Alexis Simendinger - January 14, 2013

President Obama described his impending second term as a continuation of the first -- a battlefield on which his policy arguments are resisted by Republicans who he said prefer to heed “the imperatives they feel with regard to their own politics” rather than the will of the American people.

Speaking Monday at a morning news conference about the nation’s budgeting and tax policies, efforts to curb gun violence, and even his disputed bonhomie with the GOP, Obama characterized himself as a convivial -- but thwarted -- compromiser in search of sensible and “balanced” solutions.

“In many cases, Congress votes the way they do, or talks the way they talk, or takes positions and negotiations that they take -- it doesn't have to do with me, it has to do with the imperatives that they feel in terms of their own politics, right? They're worried about their district. They're worried about what's going on back home,” the president said. “I think a lot of folks say, ‘Well, you know, if we look like we're being too cooperative or too chummy with the president, that might cause us problems. That might be an excuse for us to get a challenge from somebody in a primary.’ So that tends to be the challenge.”

Asked about his reputation for being cool toward lawmakers, especially those who do not share his views, Obama defended his social graces and his evolving negotiating styles.

He suggested that Americans can and should pressure Congress for compromises, and lawmakers might then adopt some new habits. If Americans in large numbers “reward folks who are trying to find common ground, then I think you'll see behavior in Congress change. And that will be true whether I'm the life of the party or a stick-in-the-mud,” Obama said, smiling.

The president sought to use his news conference to assail congressional Republicans for insisting that before they can approve raising the nation’s $16.4 trillion borrowing authority -- officially exhausted at the end of 2012 -- Obama has to concede to equivalent spending reductions as offsets for additional borrowing.

Obama insisted that the Treasury Department, during times of deficit spending, must rely on various cash management techniques to honor the budgetary instructions that Congress and the president have already booked. When taking on more debt becomes necessary to pay those bills as they come due, Congress can’t change its mind after the fact, the president argued. (Secretary Timothy Geithner informed Congress by letter Monday that "extraordinary measures" taken to comply with those obligations will be exhausted between mid-February and early March, and he urged quick action to resolve the issue.)

Obama, who often references his November re-election while arguing for higher taxes and “balanced” policies aimed at deficits, also insisted “the American people agree with me.”

“Even entertaining the idea of this happening, of the United States of America not paying its bills, is irresponsible,” he said. “It's absurd.”

Obama has repeatedly said he won’t negotiate with Republicans to reach any kind of deal on raising the debt ceiling. But on Monday, he softened that insistence by once again inviting Republicans to revisit a technique devised by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and used once before in the Budget Control Act. McConnell’s technique allowed the president to raise the debt ceiling in tranches, or installments, which could only be stopped if enough lawmakers voted to disapprove his actions. With Democratic control in the Senate and sufficient Democratic support in the House, Obama was able to work around GOP opposition.

House and Senate Democratic leaders have urged the president to interpret his executive powers as sufficient to raise the debt ceiling, even though the administration ruled out citing the 14th Amendment for that purpose. Others, fascinated by a suggested gimmick dissected on the Internet, have advocated the minting of a $1 trillion platinum coin to be deposited with the Federal Reserve as collateral, another idea rejected by the administration.

“There are no magic tricks here,” the president repeated. “There are no loopholes. There are no, you know, easy outs.”