Obama’s Wasted Efforts At Bipartisanship»

Catherine · **Posted:** Fri Feb 13, 2009 10:09 pm

Obama’s Wasted Efforts At Bipartisanship

In the early days of his young presidency, President Obama has already accomplished a great deal, making a clean break from Bush on a variety of issues, signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and expanding the Children’s Health Insurance Program. And in a few short days, he’ll be putting his name to an economic recovery bill that will largely hew to the principles he laid out months ago.

In the midst of these accomplishments, there have been some wasted efforts. And most of those wasted efforts have come from a sincere — but unwise — attempt to ingratiate himself with uncompromising conservatives. Some examples:

– What Obama did: Trusted Judd Gregg when he indicated that, “despite past disagreements about policies, he would support, embrace and move forward with the president’s agenda.”

– What Obama got in return: A “change of heart” from Gregg, who said that he “couldn’t be Judd Gregg” at Commerce.

– What Obama did: Reached out to have dinner with right-wing pundits Bill Kristol, Charles Krauthammer, and David Brooks.

– What Obama got in return: A ripping from his right-wing friends, who called it the worst in “galactic history.”

– What Obama did: Tried to work with the House GOP by preemptively including tax cuts, stripping stimulative spending proposals, and attending their conference meeting.

A Proud Liberal · **Posted:** Fri Feb 13, 2009 10:29 pm

From the comments:

"Like I said the other day, just as it takes two to fight, it also takes two to work together. The Rethuglic party attitude since Newt Gingrich and his ‘contract’ in ‘94 is this:

Democrats are the enemy, enemies can not be negotiated with, they can only be destroyed.

Rethugs have sewn the wind with this policy, let them reap the whirlwind."

Despite being the minority party they still act as if Ronnie Raygun is at the forefront of the fight. I believe the Dems need to realize: Repugs are the enemy, intractable enemies that can not be negotiated with, they can only be ignored and marginalized. Then and only then can the gridlock be broken.

Catherine · **Posted:** Sat Feb 14, 2009 1:02 am

Good points, APL. I know Rahm Emanuel may not be liked by many, but his attitude is exactly what is needed in the Obama White House when it comes to the Repubs...and he says the days of bipartisanship are over:

For Obama’s next act, the program is the same as he has been planning for months: New Deal-style plans to rescue struggling homeowners and rewrite regulations on the financial markets, plus a budget proposal that lays the groundwork for sweeping health care reform.

Quote:

But the strategy to promote these items is getting an emergency overhaul. Obama plans to travel more and campaign more in an effort to pressure lawmakers with public support, rather than worrying about whether he can win over Republican votes in Congress. Officials suggested that the new, more partisan tone Obama embraced last week in his speech before House Democrats at their retreat and continued at his news conference Monday was what he should have been doing all along.

Quote:

Meeting with reporters Thursday night, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said that there were times during the stimulus debate when “I don’t think we were sharp about the benefits” of the legislation, letting Washington process dominate the message.

Reflecting as “somebody who has been in this town,” he observed that “there’s an insatiable appetite for the notion of bipartisanship here and we allowed that to get ahead of ourselves.”

But Emanuel said that they recognized they had overdone their initial outreach to Republicans and had offered "a sharp message for the last week."

For now, the hard-charging chief of staff added, “He has an open hand, but he has a very firm handshake.”

Translation: Yes, the president will continue to do obligatory outreach to the GOP, but he’s not going to be burned again by an out-of-power and toothless minority for the sake of appearances.

This may be the only practical course. Obama’s call for compromise and change in how Washington does its business was quickly rebuffed by both parties in Congress. Both Democrats and Republicans have political needs and authentic ideological priorities that matter a lot more to them than whether Washington is a civil place

LINK

Purple Tang · **Posted:** Sat Feb 14, 2009 2:06 pm

U.S. has become a client state for Israel due to the overwhelming power of AIPAC. They control Congress.

Sure Obama will pull the troops out of Iraq. That is because his master, Israel, wants to open new fronts with them.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7889950.stm

rooster · **Posted:** Sat Feb 14, 2009 5:39 pm

anyway back to the subject.............

.............it looks like the stim has passed.

and that's just fine.

screw the frickin repugs. yes, the hand of bipartisanship was extended in a bend-over-backward effort for obama to show he meant what he said during his campaign. but they chose to smack his hand completely away in a show of just what type of sore loser assholes they truely are.

and don't think for one second that the electorate/public didn't notice who voted to help them out of the economic hardship of the last 8 years.

3 repugs, specter, snow and collins will more than likely prosper career wise as things begin to shake out in a few years if obama is successfull.

the rest of the assholes are heading for an even more lopsided whoopin than they recieved in 06 and 08.

here's what they're likely facing...............a thing that's starting to take a more defined shape as we move into the next few years. i read about it in an online article this morning, can't remember where exactly though. a developing demographic called the blue wall.

the article went into depth explaining how the repugs had this lock of state electoral votes since the reagan era that concentrated it's nucleus in the southern block of states.

but things are starting to shift as the article pointed out and seemed to bear out in how certain states lined up last fall. the blue wall is mainly in the north/northeast tier and the entire west/northwest coastal states. key voting blocks in those states like black voters, those with higher levels of education and higher concentrations of organized labor are also beginning to include overwhelming numbers of hispanic immigrants.

now those blocs are beginning move into states that the repugs had always counted on like virginia and indiana..............the blue wall is getting bigger and bigger.

what the repugs don't realize is that another key bloc, the 20 something colledge grads are registering dem in overwhelming numbers.

and the usually reliable bloc the repugs rely on, the over 60 crowd is aging and dying off.

the article went on to explain how in a few years with the current climate/mindset of the gop that's being heavily influenced by idiots like limpballs and hannity and it's not too hard to envision how the repugs could end up being nothing more than a small fringe regional party from the extreme south.

so as for obamas failure to gain bipartisanship, who really frickin cares. if and when the stim begins to improve things voters will remember who helped them and who frickin didn't.

the next pieces of legislation that obama pushes will hardly get much asked for input from the rethugs. the dems don't need them and obama doesn't either.

the transparency obama is showing is going to play out into bigtime political capital when the time comes for him to make a big move if needed.

he made the effort to be bipartisan................and the electorate took note.

if the repugs think they're on the outside lookin in now, just wait a few more months and see what happens. they're going to be some sorryass lookin morons as they probably still won't have a frickin clue as to how/why they are getting beaten so badly at the polls.

but hopefully, for us, they'll still be listening intently to the moronic hyperbole on conservative hate radio as we laugh our asses off watching them slowly implode thier own party.

things are takin shape i think.

Catherine · **Posted:** Sat Feb 14, 2009 8:01 pm

Quote:

the next pieces of legislation that obama pushes will hardly get much asked for input from the rethugs

Excellent post, rooster! And they'll whine some more...but I don't trust a Repub any further than I could throw Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity from a catapult. They'll try to undermine Obama in some way. My guess is it will have something to do with "terrorism." Cheney is probably huddled right now with those who think like him, plotting and planning. Obama has some very smart people in his team to reinforce his own intelligent responses. I don't think the Repubs have anybody to draw on who is that smart...so they're going to have to act in an underhanded way, but that's easy for them. It's all they've ever done.

A Proud Liberal · **Posted:** Sat Feb 14, 2009 8:33 pm

rooster wrote:

. . . .
so as for obamas failure to gain bipartisanship, who really frickin cares. if and when the stim begins to improve things voters will remember who helped them and who frickin didn't.
. . . .

It is the "if and when" that worries me. The stimulus was watered down from the beginning and was further watered down to get a total of 3 votes.

The Repug noise machine was able to gloss over the fact that we are here for two major reasons: the spending on Iraq and Afghanistan AND the tax cuts already enacted. The invasions are sinkholes with no return on investment. The tax cuts have not saved the economy for 28 years ever since Ronnie Raygun took office. There was a brief respite during the Clinton years BUT the poor still were screwed; it was during Clinton that welfare reform occurred, not that the Repugs remember, they still beat the welfare queen drum.

The rhetoric called for bold and decisive action, the actions seem halfhearted and timid. That same noise machine wants the stimulus to fail in the worst way and will never be honest enough to admit it was "bipartisan" weakening that made the stimulus fail if it does. The plan must have some measure of success. If it does not in the next 6-9 months then a stronger plan with tax cuts reversed and reinstatement of the bolder initiatives must be made with a strong coordinated PR campaign placing blame on the Repugs where it belongs. The Repugs cannot be allowed to hijack any success.

This is because my friend, rooster, I have little or no faith in the memory of voters. They voted against memory and their own best interests in 1980, 1984, 1988, 2000 and 2004. The Repugs still have the money and control not just the wackos like Limpballs but control the vast majority of the MSM.

rooster · **Posted:** Sun Feb 15, 2009 9:59 am

well apl, voters memories are the key.

and as you've noted during previous election cycles reaganism was the driving force behind a lot of the sought after demographics that had worked well for repugs in the past.

but, if you look at the last 2 elections 2 very important things took place that tend to help reinforce memory..............an empty wallet and having your intellect insulted.

record unemployment/job losses and being lied to on reasons to invade a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 were 2 very damaging and perhaps unrepairable birthmarks the repugs gave themselves.

i've learned 2 things over my soon to be 53 years about our own national political landscape.

no. 1...............voters, regardless of party vote with thier wallet.

no.2................voters get really pissed off when you insult thier intellect.

bushco and the grand ole pedophiles violated both of those 2 key components to political survivability.

and now the political landscape is changing with the developement of the demographics i described above. obama and the dems have been shrewd enough to recognize the shift putting themselves ahead of the curve.

the repugs on the otherhand are still living back in the 80s and fortunately for us are still listening to limpballs and hannity.

lookin forward to the reimplementation of some form of the fairness doctrine that will help to put and end to the gop propaganda machine. it'd be kinda nice to hear randi rhodes,the ed shultz show or bill press come on before or after limpballs or hannity to counter the shitstorm of the repugs.

we'll see what happens. i read a short blurb the other day in the usa today that had ole bubba beginning to do a little pr for it. when bill clinton starts to talk about something it's a pretty good indicator that somethings in the wind.

as for bipartisanship, like i said before...............screw 'em.

Catherine · **Posted:** Sun Feb 15, 2009 1:22 pm

Leave it to Bob Cesca to put these things into perspective! :lol:

President Obama Is Driving Republicans Insane

BY BOB CESCA

...

Quote:

Seriously, have you ever seen the Republicans more twisted and kerfuffled than they are today? Movie metaphors aside, I've been hard pressed to find greater examples of insanity from the far-right than have been exhibited in the past week alone. Here we have a Republican Party that's been discredited and bloodied, and yet in the face of an enormously popular president who is confounding conventional wisdom while building a working consensus among American voters, the Republicans appear to be reflexively coughing up the most intellectually violent chunks of hooey on record.

They're screaming about fear-mongering, even though we had eight years of this.

They're screaming about fiscal responsibility, even though we had eight years of this.

They're screaming about free speech, even though we had eight years of this and this and this.

They're honest to God screaming about fascism, even though we had eight years of this and this and this.

Yes, the Republicans have claimed to have "found their voice." If this is true, then their "voice" sounds exactly like Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge and Michelle Malkin, depending on the day.

So what are these voices saying exactly?

TO FIND OUT, GO TO THE LINK!

Obama’s Wasted Efforts At Bipartisanship»

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