President Barack Obama likened the current appropriations impasse in Congress to employees at the construction plant he was visiting Thursday in Rockville, Maryland.
The president asked the audience what would happen if they stopped working, shut down the plant, and would not return until their demands were met:
PRESIDENT OBAMA: You don't -- if you're working here, and in the middle of the day you just stopped and said, you know what, I want to get something, but I don't know -- (laughter) -- I don't know exactly what I'm going to get, but -- (laughter) -- I'm just going to stop working till I get something, and I'm going to shut down the whole plant until I get something.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Get fired!
PRESIDENT OBAMA: You'd get fired!
AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Yeah! (Applause.)
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Right? Because the deal is you've already gotten hired, you've got a job, you're getting a paycheck, and so you also are getting the pride of doing a good job and contributing to a business and looking out for your fellow worker. That's what you're getting. Well, it shouldn't be any different for a member of Congress. Now, unlike past shutdowns -- I want to make sure everybody understands this, because again, sometimes the tendency is to say, well, both sides are at fault. This one has nothing to do with deficits or spending or budgets. Our deficits are falling at the fastest pace in 60 years. We've cut the deficits in half since I took office. (Applause.)
The analogy is perplexing coming from a president who ostensibly supports organized labor.
It is unclear if this latest flap will further weaken the president's standing with MSNBC's resident labor activist and Washington Free Beacon fan Ed Schultz.