Speaking about the health care reform proposals on Friday, Obama told House Republicans at their policy retreat that he's not an impractical idealist.
"If you were to listen to the debate, and frankly how some of you went after this bill," Obama said while speaking to the House Republican retreat, "You'd think that this thing was some Bolshevik plot."
"I am not an ideologue. I'm not," the president argued.
Sunday Chris Wallace asked Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) if he agreed.
"Do you think he's an ideologue?" Wallace asked.
"In many ways, no," he answered.
"I think he doesn't think he's an ideologue, but I think he approaches things in a way a professor would in terms of big comprehensive schemes," Alexander continued. "When, in fact, the way the big complicated country we have works best (is) when we solve problems step-by-step."
Following Alexander on "Fox News Sunday," conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer took exception to the senator's description of the president.
"I disagree with my colleagues on interpreting how the president is acting. I think he has not learned. I think he has not changed. I think he remains an ideologue and I don't see a pivot," Krauthammer said.
This video is from Fox's Fox News Sunday, broadcast Jan. 31, 2010.
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