Politicians Disagree Over What Being "Adult" Means

To most people, being adult might just be defined as being 18 years old, getting a chance to vote and taking responsibility, no longer leaning on your parents for help -- but in Washington the definition of "adult" is taking on its own form.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., thinks Republicans have been acting like adults in response to President Obama's calls for lawmakers to act like "grown-ups" in the battle over funding the government.

"The adult thing to do here is to keep the government functioning, it is to get our fiscal house in order, it is to pay our troops, it is to get Americans back to work," a fired up Cantor said Wednesday at a press conference.

Lawmakers are trying to hammer out a deal to avoid a government shutdown, with the leaders having multiple meetings at the White House in recent days. Wednesday afternoon the House passed a week-long measure that would also fund the troops, but the president has said he'd veto the bill if it makes it to his desk.

Over the last week, the president himself has been audibly more intense in his words. Going back as early as February, he's been pushing for the "adult" conversations.

It's a hallmark style of the president, and something he emphasized on the campaign trail, intimating that he would bring an approach to the White House that is above the petty politics of Washington.

Wednesday in Philadelphia he seemed to scold members from both sides of the aisle and called for a get it done attitude.

"You want everybody to act like adults, quit playing games, realize that it's not just "my way or the highway." How many folks are married here? When was the last time you just got your way?," Obama said.

His leadership style though isn't necessarily making even his fellow Democrats happy.

"We have bent and bent as much as the President will let us bend, that he will bend," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.