President Obama held a press conference today, arguing that the compromise reached on tax cuts with the Republican Party is the only option available to him, and is the best that can be done under the circumstances. His point, that this is not an “abstract” political argument but something that has “real” consequences for real people. He answered criticism from his own party by issuing some criticism of his own. From the Washington Post:

He also sharply criticized his party, accusing Democratic critics of failing to reasonably assess what he has achieved during a difficult political time. And he compared complaints that he has ceded too much ground on the tax debate to the objections from liberals during the health-care debate.

“This is a big, diverse country. Not everybody agrees with us,” he said. “I know that shocks people. You know, the New York Times editorial page does not permeate across all of America. Neither does The Wall Street Journal editorial page.

There is no question that the President basically did the best he could. President’s will also be criticized by everyone, regardless of merit. I think that the Dems could have swallowed this a little easier had the middle class cuts been “decoupled” from the top rate tax cuts with this extension. The Congressional critics, in my opinion, are in no position to beat up the President when they could not achieve their goals legislatively for the past two years. The Congressional left should look in the mirror.