Obama a Partisan President

[Geo]

Republican Senator Graham said today that President Obama lost his "moral authority" because he showed himself to be a "partisan president".

Does anyone else find this a strange thing to say within the context of the healthcare reform bill (the same one that not a single Republican voted for)?

I mean- any other president with any other congress could have proposed that we make Newark the new Capitol city and at least a half dozen in the opposing minority party would have voted for it. So how could Graham keep a straight face and point out any Dem's partisianship???

I get it that reconciliation rubbed folks wrong. But all that did was get us to a vote. Everyone still had a vote.

 

[Matt J]

I'm curious, was he partisan when he reached out to the GOP in his campaigning, inauguration speech, or state of the union? Granted he was a little less warm in the state of the union, but at that point he had been rebuked and ignored by the GOP.

This is the town drunk at the end of the bar pointing at the guy who's a little tipsy and mentioning that he shouldn't drive.

 

[Arkiehawg]

The repubs made it very clear at the beginning that they wanted healthcare reform to fail, NOT because of what was in the bill, BUT because that would mean a major defeat for POTUS and then they would have leverage going into 2012.

It didn't happen and now they are crying like a bunch of toddlers and pointing fingers at everyone but themselves....

Partisanship WAS created by the repubs....remember the Knewt and his clan?

 

[AndrewG]

A leader brings people together and has to not only extend an olive branch but embrace and compromise. Words are cheap. He says one thing and does another.

The Country is more polarized now than ever before in my lifetime. Those who have the power have to act as the uniter not the other way around.

 

[Here4Good]

A leader brings people together and has to not only extend an olive branch but embrace and compromise. Words are cheap. He says one thing and does another.

The Country is more polarized now than ever before in my lifetime. Those who have the power have to act as the uniter not the other way around.

Can you at least see that you feel this way because you disagree with his policies? Can you understand that there are many, many people who felt this way when the previous administration was waging wars that were perceived as nothing but a way to make money for political friends, and when the previous president made it clear that anyone who disagreed was not a real American and was aiding terrorism?

Reality is perception. Perception is reality.

 

[Geo]

AndrewG, I agree with much of what you said about qualities in a leader and the fact that we are so polarized. But I do not blame Obama and I truly believe he has tried to extend an olive branch on several occasions and that he has compromised a great deal (for example- he pretty much lead off healthcare bill "negotiations" by removing the public option).

I still believe that we are so divided as a country because of the campaign rhetoric of the last election. That one Obama was painted as Hitler who wasn't even born here and whom we should all be afraid of. So now it is possible for Republicans to even attempt to get anything done with him because they believe they are seen as working with Hitler.

 

[Lynnie]

We are a solidly divisive nation, but it began in the 90's for this go 'round. If you look at the Presidential elections from '96, you can clearly see the pattern and how it shifted. While Obama received more votes, previous presidents before were able to cross the aisle for support with much closer election results. For whatever reason, this Administration has a problem doing this, which could have more to do with Pelosi and Reid.

 

[30ashopper]

November can't come soon enough IMHO. We've swung to the far right and now over to the far left. It's time we set an even keel for a while.

 

[Geo]

I don't think we've swung to the far left at all. If we did, you would have seen single payer. But we don't even see a public option.

While I'm at it, we didn't actually swing far right either. Bush might have played to his base but Iraq war and tax cuts aside, he was no conservative. Lots of his social policies and his spending make his more a liberal than Obama...

 

[Kayak Fish]

We haven't swung to the far left or the far right in terms of actual policy in ages. The rhetoric is radical and polarizing. The actions are mild and represent the mushy indecisive middle more than anything.

The middle is easy to buy off. Real men or women of principle are endangered in congress.

I said it before obama won and I'll say it now: this country needs radicals. It needs bold changes. Corportatism works so well precisely because there are few extremists at the trough- few are principled enough to fight the corporate interests who dictate virtually all policies.

The health care bill is a good step but it would never have happened if it wasn't a massive corporate gift box.