Obama goes on the offensive deep in Republican territory

AUSTIN, Texas (AFP) – US President Barack Obama on Monday took a swing at opposition Republicans on a campaign fund-raising trip to the state capital of Texas, accusing them of not being serious about governing.

Texas is the home state of George W. Bush, who was governor here before he was elected president in 2000. The Republican who succeeded him, Rick Perry, is still Texas governor.

Obama visited the state less than three months ahead of November 2 mid-term elections, in which the president's Democrats are widely expected to lose seats in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Obama complained that he got no help from Republicans in Congress as he reviewed his administration's successes since he took power in January 2009.

He said that Republicans were happy to delay any progress in health care, for example, without offering any worthy alternatives.

"The point is, there's been a fundamental lack of seriousness on the other side," said Obama. "We've spent the last 20 months governing. They've spent the last 20 months politicking."

Obama accused Republicans of thinking about "the next election, rather than the next generation."

In the mid-term elections the entire House of Representatives and one-third of the 100 Senate seats are up for grabs. Both chambers are currently controlled by Democrats.

"Now we've got three months to go, and so, we've decided: 'well, we can politick for three months.' They forgot I know how to politick pretty good, and so I'm happy to make this argument, I'm happy to have this debate over the next several months, to know what their vision of the future is. Because they don't have one," Obama said.

During his day-long visit to Texas the president delivered a speech on education at the University of Texas at Austin, then flew to Dallas -- where former president Bush retired to after leaving the White House -- for another fundraising event.