‘There is something wrong with our politics’

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“You’ve got to tell them you’ve had enough of the theatrics you’ve had enough of the politics, stop sending out press releases start passing some bills that we all know will help the economy right now,” he said. “That’s what they need to do. They’ve got to hear from you.”

Despite Obama’s calls for urgent action on the economy, Congress has left Washington for its August recess and Obama will soon follow for his annual summer vacation in Martha’s Vineyard. But the president said he saw little reason to call lawmakers back to Washington.

“The last thing we need is Congress spending more time arguing in D.C.,” he said. “They need to spend more time out here listening to you and hearing how fed up you are.”

Obama urged lawmakers to get to work in September and pass a series of initiatives the White House says will spur job growth, including an extension of the payroll tax cuts, three free trade agreements and an infrastructure bank. The only thing preventing some of these bills from being passed, he said, were the refusal of some lawmakers to put country ahead of party.

“There are some in Congress right now who would rather see their opponents lose than see America win,” he said.

The president’s feisty remarks came after he toured a plant in western Michigan that makes advanced batteries for alternative-fuel vehicles such as hybrids or all-electrics. The White House has been touting spending on clean-energy technologies as a job creator, and the advanced batteries as a way to boost U.S. auto companies.

Obama won Michigan in the 2008 presidential election and the economically battered state is crucial to his re-election hopes in 2012.

Ahead of the president’s arrival, Republicans criticized Obama for being more focused on saving his own job than solving the country’s economic woes.

“Everything that this president does is either a fundraiser or a political move in order to advance his march to a second term,” said Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee.

GOP presidential hopefuls will be making their case for taking over the White House in a debate in Iowa Thursday night, just as Obama is scheduled to arrive in Manhattan later Thursday for a pair of $35,800-a-ticket fundraisers for his re-election bid.

A Democratic official said Obama was to speak at a reception with about 15 people at the Ritz-Carlton hotel and a dinner for 50 at a private home. Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and movie producer Harvey Weinstein are the dinner hosts. The reception host is Gary Hirshberg, chief executive officer of organic yogurt maker Stonyfield Farm.

The $35,800 admission price is the legal maximum per person. Obama’s campaign keeps $5,000 and the Democratic National Committee pockets the remaining $30,800.

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