Is Obama stuck on stupid with this bipartisanship crap

[bigdarryl]

JESUS!!! just when I though he was going to get tough on these rethugs http://www.politico.com/livepulse/0210/Obamas_next_step_Go_back_to_Republicans.html

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[msongs]

2. like he said, repubs have a 41-59 senate majority so better ask repub permissions first lol nt

[Cha]

3. I can't get the link to

work but I'm not trusting politico on anything until I get proof.

In fact I don't even know what you're talking about since the link won't work for me.

[backscatter712]

4. I think Obama's going with the strategy of calling the Rethugs out when they refuse his overtures.

Extend the open hand, wait until the GOP spits in it, then call them out loudly in the news for refusing to be civilized.

Use that strategy consistently, and it will work to make the GOP look like the assholes they are and cost them at the polls...

[JVS]

6. How many years does it take to call them on it?

[BklnDem75]

16. Years?

Look... I understand that Obama has been making strides to get everyone involved in the name of bipartisanship, but it's only been recent, since the SOTU, that this effort to call conservatives out on their bs has begun. No, it hasn't been years. It's barely been two weeks and you're already frustrated? It's gonna take as long as it's gonna take. As long as the conservative agenda is to obstruct everything, then President Obama is going to do what he can to make it harmful for them. Either you're going to see the tactic for what it is, or you're going to get angry and give conservatives the reaction they're hoping for.

[JVS]

26. The administration did not begin with the SOTU. He's been tied down on HCR almost a year...

and he still needs to give them more time to show that they aren't bipartisan? This tactic is dragging out way to long, which is exactly what conservatives want.

[BklnDem75]

28. Senate rules tied down HCR...

not the attempt at bipartisanship. Are you paying attention? He's not giving anyone time for anything. Nothing's getting passed through the Senate at all. Republicans are stalling EVERYTHING. The narrative is that everything is failing because we're trying to pass everything without bipartisan support. Until Senate rules change, 60 is what is needed. As long as the THREAT of a filibuster exists, nothing will come to the floor.

[frazzled]

5. No, I heard what he said ... and I'm not so sure it's stupid at all

He said he'd call them in to sit down and hear their ideas, and "then we need to vote." Okay, let's remember last Friday, when he heard some of their ideas and quickly made mincemeat of them. And then in several Q & A's this week (NH, Dem Senators), he emphasized how he'd be happy to hear their stupid ideas, but they have to work (the example was universal health care that didn't cost anything).

I think he is forcing the Republicans into a put-up-or-shut-up moment. Their whiny little selling insurance across state lines thing doesn't work--it won't get universal coverage and it won't bring down health costs or the deficit. I believe he just wants to expose their ideas as being untenable. Then vote.

[AlinPA]

30. When will they vote? It looks like never. Today he said to go slow. If they go

much slower, they will stop.

[NanceGreggs]

7. Actually ...

... he's stuck on Smart.

The more he offers the "bipartisan" olive branch, the faster they are to knock it out of his hand.

Except he's forcing them to do so publicly - something voters can't help but notice.

The more they back away from cooperation for the good of the country, the more he gets in their faces with, "Come on, guys, I'm willing if you are."

Stuck on Smart - or, more to the point, Outsmart.

[gblady]

15. I agree....

it really is a smart thing to do...

[AlinPA]

31. But nothing gets done. One senator is holding up all appointments. It is not

working.

[mitchtv]

36. operative word "stuck"

time to move

[saracat]

8. it is just CYA for the election cycle. Either way, it is just about winning and nothing about doing.

Same old , same old, with an occasional bone thrown to the libs to make it "look good". Most of this is just messaging.

[Skittles]

9. it's like Jon Stewart says

Obama wants to be accepted by a club that will NEVER accept him

[xchrom]

10. It's the complete version of the one party syst.

Your major corporations I.e. Insurance companies get
married to the government -- and you move the so called
'liberal' party much closer to the 'conservative' party.

Every year brings these three closer together.

[Ozymanithrax]

11. About a third of all voters in the U.S. are registered Independent or Unaffiliated...

Bipartisanship resonates with these voters. Appealing to them makes good political sense because they have the power to swing elections.

What he and Congress should not do is legislate like there is anything like bipartisanship, because there is not.

[Bluenorthwest]

17. I do not agree at all

Unaffiliated or independent voters are not such because they like both Parties equally, it is because they hate both of them fully. When a person is independent, that person respects others who take a personal stand, not others who are trying to make compromise with two sides that are both corrupt and incorrect. Independents respect independence, not 'bi partisanship'.
The only people in the entire nation that give a rip about bipartisanship live in DC, and are in or work for the government. To the bulk of America, it is meaningless blather. In fact, to speak of bipartisanship in the face of crisis is seem by most independent voters as a sign of ignorance that is typical of Party politics.
In general, people respect those who are true to themselves, not those who seek to define themselves in relation to others.

[treestar]

22. You might be talking about Independents that don't vote

Those who consider themselves "above it all."

The ones who vote, vote for Rs or Ds. They swing back and forth. So the idea is to keep them.

[Zenlitened]

29. EXCELLENT post!

:applause:

[opihimoimoi]

12. Nah, more like stuck on Smart...a level them Pubs suck at given their recent history/strategy

When cornered ya either get the SILENCE OF THE ELEPHANTS or deny with BS Distractional talking points.....

They decided to be distractive and non cooperative...something the Public is now realizing more and more to be anti USA...because that is helping them terrorists

If ya help Terrorism, Thats Un Patriotic...Un American.....

Its not Obama

Its them Pub Bullies....

[Jennicut]

13. Did anyone acutally read this part of the article:

"Obama appeared to be sketching out a strategy that involves putting Republicans on the spot, and if they decline to take a meaningful role, Democrats will push ahead with a vote regardless. White House officials have been hinting at this kind of approach since losing the Senate’s filibuster-proof majority last month, arguing that Republicans need to take a bigger role in governing or suffer the consequences."

Obama is putting them on the spot to highlight that they don't want to govern and are obstructionists.

[BklnDem75]

14. Rachel understands the situation well

“It’s not rational for Republicans to vote with the president on anything in his agenda. The cost that they pay for being seen as obstructionist is so minor compared to the cost the Democrats pay for not being able to get anything passed. And so, this is to try to increase the cost to them of being obstructionist, him making overt pleas, ‘Join me. Join me.’"

It really doesn't help when people complain about an obvious tactic to expose conservatives. You actually strengthen their strategy.

[quantass]

18. Bipart gives democrats political cover -- "We want to do this and that BUT the repubs"...

I take the view that democrats, most of them, actually favor key points of the repubs. Namely regulation, taxes, and such. Consider how much the democrats receive from lobbyists. The problem is the base would despise this and so using bipart or "it requires 60 votes" as an excuse is brilliant. It's great political cover for a party that proclaims "for the people" but enjoys corporate handouts. And the MSM just sits back and watch the show.

The only real solution to getting things done in Washington is FIRST campaign finance reform. A real separation of Government and Capitalism. The problem: why would the very people who benefit from the existing system pass a law to handicap themselves?

[brand404]

23. PRECISELY! Well said. nt

[Autumn]

19. Smart. That way they can say

we really, really wanted to do it, but the republicans wouldn't let us.

[lunatica]

20. He's using the bully pulpit

and showing Americans who wouldn't normally pay much attention to politics exactly what the GOP is doing. I can't think of a better way to shine light on both parties and on some of the truth about what's happening in Washington, DC.

He knows the msm must carry him because he's getting the GOP to complain about what he says. He's ruffling feathers and the chickens are squawking. That gets attention even from those who hate politics and would rather keep their heads in the sand.

I think he's doing a very good job of illustrating the problems in Both Houses and both parties and the Supreme Court. In other words he's talking to them but he's bringing it to us. He's probably already said all these things in private.

We must remember that when they go public like this, all politicians are talking to us, the public, as if we were their audience. They're playing it to the audience.

edited for spelling and to add the last two sentences.

[treestar]

21. It's a strategy

The strategy of providing emotional catharsis to liberals may not work as well, he may think.

IMO Obama tries to get them out of their stance of intransigent nay-saying. The smackdown at their dinner basically was telling them they need to stop that.

He is trying to include them rather than stoop to their level where they tried to tell us we were not included and should just leave the country. He's trying to shame them into getting things back to normal.

[niceypoo]

24. They dont care what he says

They wont go along no matter what he does or says, he is wasting his breath and effort trying to 'reach out' to sociopaths.

In the end it harms him, not them, because nothing will get done with their help. If he keeps trying to tiptoe through the tulips with these sociopaths, nothing will get accomplished and they know it. The more he does it the more naive he appears.

[treestar]

25. I don't think average Americans will see it that way

They think there are two parties, they know they like to obstruct the other, but the Republicans are taking it to extremes.

[niceypoo]

27. If nothing gets accomplished, goodbye congress

People remember the end result. Nobody remembers the process.

[scheming daemons]

32. Every post you've made tonight has been a negative one toward Obama... agenda?

What is your agenda, Darryl?


You've been spreading F.U.D. all night.



Give it a rest...

[Puglover]

33. Oh jesus christ.

What's your...........Oh fuck it. Ignore.

[burning rain]

34. If calling for bipartisanship & cooperation is his endgame, he'll probably fail.

If, however, his calls for bipartisanship are a way of showing the public he's going the extra mile to work with Republicans, preparing the public for stripping the right to filibuster when they refuse, it's doubtlessly a good idea.

[DFLforever]

35. No. But you seem to be.

Ever hear of political strategy? You may agree with it or not, but are you really as naive as you appear re messaging.

[HughMoran]

38. Agreed

Taking words at face value is not very sophisticated.

[IndianaGreen]

37. He is delusional if he thinks the GOP will cooperate in any way!

There was a moderate leader in Guatemala back in the 1950s, that somehow deluded himself into thinking that small step economic reforms could be accomplished without earning the opposition of the oligarchs. His very modest land reform measures resulted in the CIA staging a coup that replaced his democratically elected government with a military dictatorship. And so Obama is following the path of Jacobo Arbenz.