Obama Comments On Tea Party Protesters

The basic reason for the Tea Party protests is the concern about government spending and wasteful practices, and that many feel their concerns about government spending and bailouts are not being heard. An interesting element of the Tea Parties is the make of the participants. They were a rather diverse group of fiscal conservatives. Some in the media used the protests to promote their own brand of conservatism, or on the other extreme, some in the media dismissed the protesters as 'radical right' crazies. However, if you look at local news coverage of the Tea Parties you can see that they represented a wide range of people who have a legitimate concern about how the government spends money. President Obama would likely have been better served by ignoring the protesters, as was the White House's first reaction to the Tea Parties. Belittling these people was politically unwise, and pretending that his administration has addressed any of the concerns of fiscal conservatives was less than honest.

Obama on "People Waving Tea Bags Around"