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Ryan: Obama 'Seems to Always Stay in a Campaign Mode'

February 13, 2013

Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wisc.) called President Obama's State of the Union address "par for the course" in an interview on CBS Wednesday morning, designating the speech "very liberal" and "fairly partisan."

"He's taking to the road for the next few days in what I could call campaign mode," Ryan said. "He seems to always stay in a campaign mode where he treats people of the other party as the enemy and not as partners. If he really wanted to get things done and govern, he would come here and work with us instead of campaigning all around the country."

Asked about his political future, Ryan insisted he had to focus on his current position as chair of the House Budget Committee.

"I want to stop the country from having a debt crisis," Ryan said. "I want to work wherever I can to fix this future ... I feel like i have a pretty important job to do right now as chairman of the Budget Committee. Make sure we get this debt under control, balance the budget, grow the economy, reform the tax system ...  That stuff produces jobs. That creates growth. That's what I'm focused on. I'm more focused on policy and outcome than some political promotion."