Ironically, that’s a spot-on description of Obama and the unions.

(AFP) — Stung by a bitter battle over the U.S. debt, President Barack Obama shifted his focus towards putting Americans back to work Tuesday, holding an “urgent” meeting with unions frustrated over the slow pace of job creation.

Obama held a closed-door meeting with leaders of the AFL-CIO, the country’s main labor union umbrella organization, and was expected to hear complaints for shrinking from his demand to include tax revenues as part of the debt deal.

“This morning’s meeting with the general board of the AFL-CIO was a conversation about the urgent need to focus on job-creating policies that will propel working people and our economy forward,” union spokeswoman Alison Omens said.

“Working people are desperate to hear how we’re going to focus on the real economy and the jobs crisis, and President Obama conveyed his own feeling of urgency around dealing with the jobs crisis,” she added.

A union official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that several AFL-CIO affiliate unions have been “critical of Obama” over the debt deal, which raises the limit on U.S. borrowing and enacts at least $2.1 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade.

“The labor movement thinks that it’s a bad deal for working people” who will “take it on the chin,” the official said.

At the weekend climax of debt negotiations, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka blasted Republican leaders, who insisted that tax revenue not be part of any debt reduction deal, for “acting like dictators — putting their political interests before the good of the country.”