Patrick reaches back to decry Obama foes

[Forkboy]

Governor Deval Patrick, decrying partisanship in Washington, said yesterday that Republican opposition to President Obama is so reflexive that it “is almost at the level of sedition.’’

The Democratic governor, who is close to the president, said that even “on my worst day, when I’m most frustrated about folks who seem to be rooting for failure,’’ he doesn’t face anything like the opposition to the president and his proposals.

“It seems like child’s play compared to what’s going on in Washington, where it is almost at the level of sedition, it feels like to me,’’ the governor told students and faculty at a candidate’s forum at Suffolk Law School’s Rappaport Center. “People who have just resolved: If the president says, ‘Up,’ we will say, ‘Down.’ If the president says, ‘Go that way,’ we will say, ‘Go the other way.’ ’’

Sedition is a word not often heard in modern political discourse; Merriam-Webster.com defines it as “in citement of resistance to, or insurrection against, lawful authority.’’ Asked about his choice of words after the forum, Patrick told reporters it was a “rhetorical flourish.’’

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/05/25/patrick_reaches_back_to_decry_obama_foes/