Sen. Johnson: Obama 'not someone we can compromise with'

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) on Thursday proclaimed that under the Obama presidency the United States has reached a low level of socialism. 

The freshman senator, who was speaking to a group of conservaties in Washington, explained that U.S. federal spending was nearing levels seen in countries whose economies are on the brink — like Greece and Italy.

“Congratulations, America! We have arrived at the lower level of European socialism!” he said, as reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Friday.

“President Obama is not someone we can compromise with," he continued in his speech, delivered at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. "President Obama is someone we must defeat.”

Johnson, who is new to Washington, has made a name for himself in the 112th Congress as a staunch conservative willing to wield the Senate's procedural tools to protest Democrats' leadership of the upper chamber. 

Obama is "not working with us in good faith," said Johnson. He is "just running for reelection."