MSNBC host Chris Matthews slammed President Obama for pairing timidity in talking about his agenda with an undignified attack on Mitt Romney's record as an investor at Bain Capital.

"He has to be big and loud and noisy like me I guess," Matthews said, calling Obama "pusillanimous" today on Morning Joe. "Talking about Bain is below him. Talking about Massachusetts -- who cares about Massachusetts 20 years ago? He's got to focus on the future."

Matthews then blamed Obama for failing to negotiate a debt-ceiling deal with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, last year. "He could have found some way of not screwing around last August with trying to up the revenue number from $800 billion to $1.2 trillion, bolloxing up the deal he had with Boehner," Matthews said.

Sounding frustrated with Obama, and perhaps even irritated, Matthews mocked Obama's campaign fundraisers. "He's got movie stars talking about, have dinner with Michelle and the president," Matthews said. "What's this Mickey Mouse stuff? Who's going to vote for a guy for that reason?"