DNC frames 100 days mark as contrast with GOP

The Democratic National Committee is framing President Obama’s first 100 days in office as the beginning of a long road to recovery fought against an obstructionist GOP.

In a memo sent to DNC members and surrogates around the nation, which was obtained by The Hill, committee chief of staff Jennifer O’Malley Dillon renewed harsh criticism of Republicans, who Democrats have tried to label the “Party of No.”

{mosads}”While Americans have been buoyed by President Obama’s bold action to get the country back on track, they have been turned off by the rank partisanship of the Republican Party’s strategy of simply saying NO to President Obama’s plans,” O’Malley Dillon writes. “Not only has the GOP said No to virtually everything the President has proposed, they have offered no new ideas and no new leaders after two consecutive elections where both their policies, and the politicians in their party advocating for them, were roundly rejected.”

Democrats continued their attacks on House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) in particular — two Republicans have climbed quickly to the top of Democratic target lists. Democrats have also worked for weeks to tie the GOP’s new leaders with controversial Republican names — a strategy that began after former Vice President Cheney, radio host Rush Limbaugh and strategist Karl Rove all made controversial comments in recent days.

“To date, … led by the likes of Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and Rush Limbaugh, Republicans continue to advocate for the failed polices of the past which created the current problems President Obama is working so hard to solve, while also clinging to the divisive politics and rhetoric which Americans have grown weary of,” O’Malley Dillon wrote in notes that will become widely-disseminated talking points among the party faithful.

Republican National Committee communications director Trevor Francis defended his party’s votes against major pieces of legislation Democrats count as early achievements.

“Stopping the Democrats’ assault on fiscal responsibility in favor of better solutions is in our nation’s best economic interest,” Francis told The Hill. “We’re encouraged that many Democrats are realizing that our nation can’t afford the spending, taxing and borrowing policies that their liberal leadership are putting forward.”

Poll numbers show Americans remain pessimistic about the GOP, with a recent Associated Press poll showing 65 percent of respondents disapproving of the job Republicans in Congress are doing.

O’Malley Dillon also pointed out the milestone date allows a moment to look back. O’Malley Dillon pointed to passage of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, a fair-pay measure and the massive economic stimulus package as Obama’s early accomplishments.

“The list is impressive. The scale of what the President has accomplished and the speed with which he has done so has been truly remarkable,” she wrote.

The 100-day mark has been used as a gauge since Franklin Roosevelt passed major legislation amidst the Great Depression. O’Malley Dillon now calls the designation “arbitrary,” warning that serious challenges still face the president. Wednesday marks Obama’s 100th day in office. He will spend the day in St. Louis before returning to Washington to hold a prime-time press conference.