captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. it worked for harry truman, it s worked for a few others. presidents have attacked congress before to try to shame them into action and get them to do what the president wants them to do. the president held his first formal news conference since march. it was clear he had found a new target. chuck todd was among the questioners today, starts us off tonight. reporter: whatever was on the debt limit, libya, even trade deals, the president borrowed that page from not just the truman playbook, but kennedy, truman, you name it, he put the blame on one body, he blamed congress. president obama began by rebuking congress, citing it s failure to act on several pieces of pending legislation. right now congress can send me a bill. reporter: the president repeatedly called out congress on delay. that s pending before congress right now. reporter: it didn t end there, he even mocked them for procrastinating on the au