Sen. Bernie Sanders: It Took Obama Years To Learn He Couldn't Negotiate With GOP

[n2doc]

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said President Barack Obama was naive about how difficult it would be to negotiate with the GOP, a lesson it took the president years to learn.

"I would say my main criticism of Barack Obama is that he seemed to think when he came in, and in the ensuing years, that he could negotiate with right-wing extremists who really had no intention of ever negotiating," Sanders told Larry King in an interview for Ora.tv's "Politicking." "When you’re in politics, Larry -- and I’ve been in politics a while -- negotiation is part of what politics is about. But you cannot negotiate with people who refuse to negotiate, who really want to politically destroy you."

Sanders went on to say that the president should have made Republicans "an offer they couldn't refuse."

"And that is, if they did not support legislation like raising the minimum wage, like a massive jobs program to put our people back to work, rebuild our infrastructure -- they would pay a political price for that because you had an educated and organized population ready to get involved politically," he said in the interview, which is scheduled to air Thursday night.

Sanders said Obama is otherwise an "extraordinary intelligent" man whom he likes personally.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/24/bernie-sanders-obama_n_5617631.html

[BeyondGeography]

1. Nothing like condescending to a guy who got elected President twice

Obama drove me to tears with his behavior toward Republicans in his first term; it was like he was having conversations with himself 1/2 the time. But he did need to return to the electorate and win in 2012, and a big part of that victory was to demonstrate that he wasn't the problem in Washington.

Ask the Republicans if they feel beaten by him. The richest wingnuts in America whose taxes he raised. The people who are fighting his health care law as if their lives depend on it. The people who are (thankfully) now being kept away from the levers of foreign policy power. You can accuse Obama of many things, but he does not need a political education from a guy who calls himself a socialist and is still able to win a senatorial seat with ease, because it's Vermont. If it's so obvious what the problem is, Bernie, change parties and put your ass on the line as a candidate.

[rhett o rick]

5. Sen Sanders was being nice. Pres Obama has kowtowed too long to the Right Wing.

I don't agree he needed to kowtow to get reelected. He campaigned like a progressive before 2008 and once elected he dumped the progressives for the Conservative Democrat/Republicans. To do that he didn't want to upset the Republicans. Now he has no excuse. No excuse to keep Arnie Duncan or Gen Clapper.

ps: If you think getting elected twice is the measure of a person, I should remind you that Bush, the Dim-Son, was elected twice (so to speak).

[BeyondGeography]

8. Obama has been overly cautious at times

He has not kowtowed. Hyperbolic, perspective-free bullshit from you.

[rhett o rick]

11. Can't we have a friendly discussion w/o you making it about me?

It is about perspective. I see his capitulation to Gen Clapper, to the fracking lobby, to the XL Pipeline corps, to Wall Street, to international coprs for the TPP, etc. as kowtowing. You see it as "overly cautious". Doesn't really matter what we call it, the lower classes are getting screwed.

[BeyondGeography]

13. "Kowtow" is an OTT and ugly term

It does matter what you call it. You are not setting the tone for a friendly conversation.

[rhett o rick]

14. I will admit to being a bit hyperbolic. In 2008 I voted for a very outspoken, dynamic

candidate that I thought would take on the Republicans head to head and not be "overly cautious". And now I see H. Clinton-Sachs on the horizon and I am panicked. Wall Street has won. How long can we fight for a free internet when our Democratic president appoints Conservatives, how long will the teachers survive with Arnie Duncan? The NSA has their foot on our throat and the President says he will ask them to investigate themselves. The TPP isn't "overly cautious", it's deliberate. We need to throw "overly cautious" out the door and fight for the children that go to bed hungry.

[QC]

16. +1000000

[L0oniX]

17. rhett o rick/Sanders 2014

[BeyondGeography]

20. No major disagreements there

If you aren't continually disappointed by your country, it probably means you don't have high hopes for it. Has Obama maximized his personal potential as President? I don't think so. The worst thing he did in his first term imo was to go Beltway and not use his skills as a communicator to create better political potential for himself and for progressive outcomes. The promise (and the need) was for something different. It hurt him on the stimulus bill, health care and the 2010 midterms. Since then, he has been better, with the help of older hands like Reid, Pelosi and Biden who have bucked him up at the appropriate moments. Credit to Obama for having the good sense to listen to them and/or follow their lead on SS, health care and gay rights.

Duncan is probably the dreariest aspect of the Administration, with his mind-numbing emphasis on test scores and tenure. Our investment levels in teachers are much more of a problem than tenure rules and the Admin. led wrongly on this issue.

Clapper/NSA I see as legacy issues where Obama has been reactive. I do not share in the paranoia over privacy as it relates to the gov't, which has nothing on corporations in that department. The NSA looks to me like a classic case of bureaucratic featherbedding and private-sector scamming. Americans care far more about money than power; which is better than the reverse.

On the plus side, he did stabilize the economy via the stimulus; he has ended two wars; he did pass the most significant piece of health care reform since 1965; he kicked banks out of the student loan program; has downsized terrorism as a major political issue starting with the killing of Bin Laden (which he was very smart to focus on); rescued the auto industry and aggressively raised fuel efficiency standards; passed the Fair Pay Act; repealed DADT; raised the top rate on HHI over $450K and has kept himself out of trouble for six years while keeping Mitt Romney and the kleptocracy away from the White House. All in the face of the same hatred that Bill Clinton faced, with a little extra added for being a black man with a middle name of Hussein.

None of the above would have been possible without Obama winning in the first place. Having watched Democrats lose the WH regularly since 1980, with Bill Clinton winning in 1992 with the help of Ross Perot, I think I understand how difficult it is to defeat the Republicans nationally. Obama's re-election is something that many people here seem to take for granted. In fact, he out-organized Romney to take 11 of 12 battleground states, all of which were closely decided. Everyone here should be thankful for that; yes, thankful. Especially now that the President, who remains someone I consider to be a basically wise and well-intentioned human being, has finally been given no choice but to confront the Republicans (who are suing him, after all...) and the era of wrong-headed compromise is over.

[sabrina 1]

22. What? The electorate in 2008 overwhelmingly gave him that mandate. Did you miss that?

Bernie is absolutely right. He should have, eg, cleaned house of all Bush appointees, Clapper, Gates et al, replaced them with DEMOCRATS because WE WON.

He NEVER should have appointed Republicans to positions of power in Defense eg. What was he thinking? This is what the overwhelming majority who elected him WANTED.

Nor should he have appointed CEOs of the very Corps that created the problems we had to his cabinet, Monsanto eg.

Jan, 2009 was the time to act swiftly to remove the garbage because you know, if you have even a modicum of reasoning skills that this was why he got elected by a majority of the people.

Instead we got Bush's Defense Dept, practically untouched, with its agencies, the NSA eg, still run by Bush appointees and liars like Clapper.

And even after leaving them in power or appointing them to power, they still attacked him, see Gates eg.

I really do not understand it all. They should have been prosecuted for their war crimes but he chose to 'move forward'. Now the war criminals are all over TV attacking him and claiming we need 'leadership'.

Do you think that if Republicans got the mandate Obama had they would appointed DEMOCRATS to those positions?

Bernie is absolutely right.

[jwirr]

2. I don't know when President Obama learned about the rethug meeting on his first inaugeral day

where they vowed to make him a failure. But that when he knew what they were going to do is the day he should have stopped dealing with them. We have all been upset at the number of times he made deals with them that we would not have made. I think exposing their actions would have changed a lot of what has happened.

And yes, I love President Obama and his family.

[bigtree]

3. I've said this since his first primary campaign

. . . when he promised to 'reach out' to republicans.

You could see that he either was unaware of the ground already fought for, or was dismissive of the need for such fights. He lambasted Clinton in that contest for her 'fights' with republicans over health care, saying we needed a different kind of politics.

bigtree in 2008:

I can see the republicans standing with President Obama . . .

Smiling, shaking hands . . . SOMEONE in that arrangement has to lose. The issues and concerns we face break down into longstanding efforts to bring about changes which have been obstructed by a republican agenda which is designed to derail those efforts, not replace them. All of their proposals are phony, disguised as legitimate legislation, designed to derail the 'change' Obama says he wants. That's the real world. What he's selling is a fantasy.

There is no republican class in power to work with. Their agenda is a sham designed to obstruct the changes we want and need. It may sound wonderful to imagine that Obama will transcend all of that, but, if he doesn't have a Democratic majority large enough to overcome these filibusters, he'll be just as stymied as we are today. I think he's selling a scenario which doesn't exist.

related:

Obama promised to continue his charm offensive aimed at Republicans

"Occasionally I may make some of you angry because I’m going to reach out to Republicans and I’m going to keep on doing it,” Obama said, according to the report. “Even if some of you think I’m a sap, I’m going to keep on doing it because that’s what I think the country needs.”
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/obama-bush-loves-this-country-loves-its-people

Boehner blinks in debt ceiling fight
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2013/01/08/beohner_blinks_in_debt_ceiling_fight.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/01/07/republicans-getting-weak-kneed-about-debt-ceiling-fight/?print=1

[Bluenorthwest]

4. I agree with Bernie. Not only that, I am still unsure Obama comprehends that praise for his bigoted

Republican pals like Coburn reads as endorsement of their policy and prejudices. Heaped praise on homophobic Coburn in Time 'Oklahoma is lucky to have my good friend Tom'. Except for the LGBT Oklahomans he insults and oppresses, aside from the women in need of reproductive choices, he's super great. It is the admiration for Republicans that makes me think Obama is still a bigot in his heart. Sorry folks, but this is not a game.
I do not trust Republicans nor those who ask me to trust Republicans.

[Zorra]

6. If he was even half-ass street wise he would have done everything possible to crush the fuckers

in the first year of his presidency.

No quarter for fascists, ever.

[riversedge]

7. Sanders is spot on. Although

I do give Pres Obama credit for trying.

[dsc]

9. this is the primary reason I didn't vote for him in the primaries

I am glad he, at long last, learned that lesson but it sure did take a long time.

[Tom Rinaldo]

19. Me too. I agree with pretty much everything Saunders said.

Including respecting Obama's intelligence and liking him as a person. I wasn't thrilled with my choices when the primaries got rolling. I didn't trust Edwards, and toyed with Biden but saw he was going nowhere. I wanted Clark, Feingold, Gore, or Dean to run but none of them did. I reluctantly backed Hillary over Obama. I never believed they were very different on most issues and was not overly surprised when Obama welcomed her into his administration. I thought Clinton had the advantage of knowing exactly how dirty Republicans played. She acknowledged the "vast right wing conspiracy" rather than talking about "purple America".

Fortunately, however, I think Obama has gotten through his learning curve on Republican obstructionism now and he fully gets it. It took almost 3 years.

[gwheezie]

10. I also didn't vote for Obama in my primary

for the same reason, I listened to what he said, agreed with most of it but felt he underestimated the gop and rightwing loons. I did vote for him in the GE. Looking back however, the right was going to go after any dem president that was elected and I am not convinced anyone else would have gotten any further than Obama has. The gop would have just changed their tactics. And frankly, we didn't have the votes and there were too many dems who didn't back Obama when he was trying to get things done. Shame on them.

[KG]

12. He was a member of one of the most exclusive clubs on the world (us senate) and he didn't know how

they operated?

cool story.

[rhett o rick]

15. Are there posters here that really believe that the Republicans "tricked" or some how fooled the

president? That they "fooled" him into appointing almost all conservatives? Sen Sanders is being very nice but he is being political in saying that the president is "extraordinary intelligent" and also that it took him 6 years to figure out the Republicans?
Pres Obama should have taken them on on day one when he had the political capital.

[L0oniX]

18. The US government is just entertainment for the rich.

[Martin Eden]

21. It might be possible to negotiate with terrorists ...

... but with Republicans, notsomuch.