WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's chief of staff is warning about what might happen if Republicans -- who have defended BP over the Gulf oil spill -- were to run Congress after the fall election.
Rahm Emanuel says the GOP philosophy is to paint BP as the victim, pointing to Rep. Joe Barton's apology to BP for what the congressman called a White House "shakedown."
"That's not a political gaffe, those are prepared remarks. That is a philosophy. That is an approach to what they see. They see the aggrieved party here as BP, not the fishermen," Emanuel said on ABC's "This Week."
Barton and Kentucky Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul, who recently called Obama's criticism of BP "un-American," are a reflection of the Republican party's governing philosophy, Emanuel said. "They think that the government's the problem."
It would be "dangerous" if the GOP held power in Washington, Emanuel said.
"I think what Joe Barton did was remind the American people, in case they forgot, how the Republicans would govern."
Emanuel says Obama will make clear to voters the fundamental differences in how each party would govern, focusing on energy policy, Wall Street reform and economic recovery.
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