WASHINGTON — The White House was on the defensive Tuesday after press secretary Robert Gibbs lashed out at liberals he dubbed the “professional left,” saying some of them should be drug-tested.
Gibbs contended that some liberals critical of President Barack Obama wouldn’t be satisfied until the Pentagon was eliminated and Canadian-style health care ushered into the U.S.
Some of them wouldn’t even be happy if anti-war congressman Dennis Kucinich were president, according to Gibbs.
His comments appeared Tuesday in the newspaper The Hill.
Standing in for Gibbs at the daily White House press briefing, Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton downplayed the comments, saying Gibbs simply “answered honestly” in a conversation with a reporter.
“Is there ever some frustration from anyone who works in this building about the way it’s being covered? Sure,” Burton said when asked whether Gibbs’ comments reflected Obama’s views. “But that doesn’t distract us from the very serious work that we’ve got to do to keep the American people safe and keep the American economy growing. So I would just say that our focus today isn’t one article in a Hill publication.”
Burton said Gibbs had a sore throat and his absence from the briefing was unrelated to angry blow-back from left-wing bloggers and others. One Democratic congressman, Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., told the Huffington Post that Gibbs should resign.
“I don’t think there’s any danger of that,” said Burton.
Among Gibbs’ comments: “I hear these people saying (Obama’s) like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug-tested. I mean, it’s crazy.”
Liberal groups have been frustrated with Obama over issues including the health care bill, which they contend didn’t go far enough, and Obama’s failure to move more quickly to end the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays in the military.
