(CNN) - President Barack Obama vigorously defended his agreement with Republicans to extend all of the Bush-era tax cuts on Tuesday, arguing that it was a price that had to be paid to spare the middle class from crippling tax hikes. The president promised disheartened Democrats that the fight over the cuts for the highest-income Americans would continue over the next two years. He also urged them to take a long-term view of the bitter policy fights now taking place in Washington.
Today on American Morning, President Obama's senior adviser David Axelrod responds to Democrats upset over the agreement, and how the decision affects Obama politically.
Notably, Axelrod tells AM's John Roberts, “I say the people who are going to get screwed [… ] are the American people if we don’t act to prevent their taxes from going up January 1.”
For more, watch the full interview: