Analysis: Obama makes tax cuts a centerpiece of campaign

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama dared Republicans on Friday to wage an election campaign on tax cuts, telling voters his opponents are the party of the rich and all but ruling out a compromise before November elections.

In a rare news conference, Obama opened the door to negotiation with Republicans over tax cuts but then abruptly slammed it shut and went on the offensive to convince Americans that his opponents have no new ideas and are holding the economic recovery hostage over politics.

Here are some key interpretations of Obama's comments.

* Obama said the door was open for talks with Republicans over extending Bush-era tax cuts, but then he quickly slammed it shut, saying their ideas are not good ones.

"We can have a further conversation about how they want to spend an additional $700 billion to give an average of $100,000 to millionaires. That, I think, is a bad idea."

* The president threw down the gauntlet on taxes, telling Democrats and Republicans he was ready to wage a campaign against Republicans who support tax cuts for the wealthy. Drawing from a traditional Democratic playbook, he cast Republicans as the party of the rich and unconcerned about the newly unemployed.

"Why hold the middle class hostage in order to do something that most economists don't think make sense? What I'm saying is let's do what we agree to and that the American people overwhelmingly agree to, which is let's give certainty to families out there that are having a tough time."

* Obama's other message for voters? Republican economic policies got us in trouble, and they are still peddling exactly the same plans today.

"The policies that the Republicans are offering right now are the exact policies that got us into this mess," he said.

"It's not a situation where they went and reflected and said to themselves, 'You know what? We didn't do some things right. And so we've got a whole bunch of new ideas out here that we want to present to you that -- that we think are going to help put us on the path of strong growth.'"

* Obama pointed to Republican action to block a small business bill in Congress as evidence that they are more interested in playing politics than creating jobs. He trumpeted the defection of Republican Senator George Voinovich, whose newly declared support for the legislation now that he's no longer running for office means it is now likely to pass.

(Editing by Will Dunham)