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Santorum To Obama: "Man Up And Be President"

The unlikely Iowa star tries to talk tough.

URBANDALE, Iowa—Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum called on President Barack Obama to "man up" during a speech to students, faculty, and parents at the Des Moines Christian Academy on Tuesday.

Santorum, who is surging in Iowa in advance of tonight's caucuses, trotted out his sharpest criticism of the president yet — accusing Obama of making excuses instead of leading. Under fire from second tier candidates like Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry, he is trying to rise above the fray and pivot to attacking Obama.

"When you run for president, you take responsibility," he said. "If there's one lesson you can teach every child looking up to you as president, as I hope they would do, [it] is that you take responsibility for your actions. If you want to be president, man up and be president."

Read the full quote below:

"If your teacher asks you for your homework assignment and you routinely say, 'It was really hard and well my dog was not acting up or my sister was causing a problem and some thing happened and I didn't get a chance to do it and that's my excuse.' Your teacher would say, 'F. Sorry. Incomplete. No good.' Well that's the routine of this administration, handing in their assignment incomplete and blaming somebody else for the problem.

I've made this statement before and I'll make it again, to the best of my ability if I'm elected President of the United States I will not say the word Barack Obama other than doing so in a respectful and positive way, but I will not say the word Barack Obama to blame for anything that we have not been able to accomplish in our administration.

When you run for president you take responsibility. If there's one lesson you can teach every child looking up to you as president as I hope they would do, is that you take responsibility for your actions. If you want to be president, man up and be president."