Pres Obama was asked twice today about his quest for bi-partisanship

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

Here's #1 from the radio interview. I guess that must have been the Smerconish thing

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/president-obama/obama-supporter-confronts-president-your-knees-are-buckling/
The Plum Line - Greg Sargent's Blog (A Washington Post Publication)

Obama Supporter Confronts President - Your Knees Are Buckling

(The question from a caller)
I’m getting a little ticked off that it feels like the knees are buckling a little bit. You have an overwhelming majority in both the House and the Senate, and you own the whole shooting match. And I’m just not getting — it’s very frustrating to watch you try and compromise with a lot of these people who aren’t willing to compromise with you.

(Greg Sargent)
Lot of folks have wanted to tell the President that for some time, and it was interesting to hear someone do it. Obama answered by vowing that health care reform would pass, and as I noted below, he did acknowledge that the GOP wants him to fail:

(President Obama)
"I would love to have more Republicans engaged and involved in this process. I think early on a decision was made by the Republican leadership that said, look, let’s not give them a victory and maybe we can have a replay of 1993-94 when Clinton came in; he failed on health care and then we won in the midterm elections and we got the majority. And I think there’s some folks who are taking a page out of that playbook."

(Sargent)
Obama, in other words, implicitly agreed with the caller’s claim that the GOP opposition isn’t willing to compromise. But then Obama added that he wants to give Chuck Grassley and Mike Enzi a “chance” because they’ve been “working constructively.”

Wow! Can't be much more direct than that caller - And yet Pres Obama persists in saying that Grassley(!) is working "constructively"! This, right after Grassley has been running around like the biggest A-hole in the world tossing out ultimatums to Pres Obama. I'm sorry, but saying that Grassley is working constructively makes the President look out of touch and even a bit foolish.

The 2nd time he was asked about bi-partisanship was during the OFA online conference which I caught a bit of. Sorry, no transcript - perhaps someone else can post it.

I was going to try to post what I caught, but decided I'm uncomfortable doing that since I don't want to be inaccurate. I did write down that he said that he wanted " a good product that includes Republican ideas (might be ideals)"

In all honesty, I think the only idea the Republicans have about healthcare reform is - "stop it" and if they can't stop it, water it down so much as to make it a crappy shell of what it could and should be.

So, again, I'm mystified about the Abominable Snowman search for bi-partisanship. I do have a new and different perspective in light of many things that seem to be emerging from this debate about reform. My new sense is that Dems don't really want much more reform than the Repubs do. They want to compromise away all the meat and then blame it on the Repubs even though the only ones they have been seriously negotiating with is themselves.

[polichick]

1. I suspect you're right, though I'd change the word Dems in your last paragraph...

...to Blue Dog Dems and the WH.

[jenmito]

2. Don't believe it. He's SAYING he's still searching for bi-partisanship (and even still

praising Chuck Grassley) so that when they reject any health care reform bill, he comes out looking like the good guy with the outstretched hand. That's when they go for reconciliation.

[Clio the Leo]

4. some of us need to familiarize ourselves with the phrase.....

"mindscrew" ...... dont we? ;)

[jenmito]

7. Yup.

I really can't believe so many people think Obama is so naive!

[Clio the Leo]

17. he was born neither out of the country NOR yesterday ;-) NT

[elehhhhna]

25. this is judo, people. he's got it covered.

[Cha]

8. I prefer Psych Ops..either way

they should get familiar.

[Clio the Leo]

16. lol, that sounds like it requires cammo....

.... minscrewing can be done in stilettos ...... or a neck tie ..... whatever the case may be. ;)

[CitizenPatriot]

5. xactly. and they're so dumb they fall for it.

every time.

'course they don;t have much choice cuz their base would eat them alive if they dared to be constructive about anything.

[jenmito]

9. I know...

I guess they won't realize what was going on until the bill is passed.

[CitizenPatriot]

12. kinda makes me wanna

send them "how a bill gets passed" in its cartoon version....but I fear the complexity of new age media would flummox them. foiled by the internets again.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

6. I think he's said it long enough.

We get it. He wants to be bi-partisan. They don't. There comes a point of diminishing returns and he's hit it. Now it looks like the Dems just want to hang a watered down bill on the fact that they were trying oh so hard to be bi-partisan.

It's becoming more like just a cover story or excuse for the lack of guts they (Dems) have in writing the kind of bill that is necessary for real reform.

[jenmito]

10. You DON'T get it. He's just SAYING he wants to be bi-partisan at this point.

You think he doesn't see what Grassley, Kyle and others are saying? He just keeps playing the wide-eyed optimist so when the Repubs. end up rejecting any bill, it will NOT be for a lack of Obama trying! That's when he pushes through with reconciliation "as a last resort."

[emulatorloo]

13. Well, Congress isn't in session until September. While not keep stroking Grassley until then.

Let them play their petty games while he is the percieved nice guy.

Then get aggressive once the GOPer's are back in town.

[polichick]

18. All that "stroking" is sickening - reminds me of an abused spouse...

...who keeps going back for more.

[emulatorloo]

19. Probably plays well with "independents" and middle of the roaders eom

[Apollo11]

20. Especially the ones who want a weak President

Some of us would rather see some spine and strength from the man who was elected President with 69.5 million votes.

Have Obama telling the Blue Dogs "Here's what's gonna happen."

I am still spinning from Obama's "just one sliver" remark on August 15th.

"All I’m saying is, though, that the public option, whether we have it or we don’t have it, is not the entirety of health care reform. This is just one sliver of it, one aspect of it. And by the way, it’s both the right and the left that have become so fixated on this that they forget everything else" - President Obama, Grand Junction, Colorado, August 15, 2009

[polichick]

22. Maxine Waters said on msnbc yesterday...

It's not a sliver, it's a BIG CHUNK.

[polichick]

21. The polls show something else - "weakness" isn't attractive to that group. nt

[Clio the Leo]

3. I have a serious question..........

.... has there been a time in American history where you had one party in control of the White House and Congress and they ram rodded legislation through, the minority party be damned, and it DIDN'T come back and bite them in the butt in subsequent elections?

[DevonRex]

11. Good thing you didn't choose politics as your life's work. nt

[Thrill]

14. Obama knows they aren't serious about working with him

But he wants to appear that he's trying to work with them. Politics

[harun]

23. Agree. It is an opportunity to make them look bad. Politicians don't

pass that up.

[polichick]

24. Except he's making himself look very weak - as polls show. nt

[pinto]

15. There's *no* final bill yet, Congress isn't back in session until September,

a lot of this August recess stuff is political theater. I think Obama is willing to talk the high road, while Republican legislators talk trash.

The final bill, in the end, will depend on a Democratic led joint effort between the House and the Senate. All but one proposal from the committees has a public option. Once enough Republican legislators have talked themselves into a fringe corner, none but a few, will vote for a Democratic crafted bill anyway.

Obama doesn't need to trash them in public. They're setting that stage on their own and the Dem's in Congress can go about putting together a bill for Obama's signature.

There's a bit of gamble in it all, of course, and missteps are sure to happen. Who or what gets the repeated two minute sound bite on 24/7 cable news, who or what leads the print press Monday morning, who's not-quite-precise comment becomes a "policy statement", etc. etc.

September will tell the tale, not the August recess.

[elehhhhna]

26. We're gonna have to get used to a Prezzydent with MANNERS!

oh the humanity