Obama’s Wasted Efforts At Bipartisanship

[jefferson_dem]

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.

– What Obama got in return: Zero votes (and a bunch of false myths about his plan)

– What Obama did: Tried to reach out to John McCain to work together on “solving our financial crisis.”

– What Obama got in return: Nothing. McCain voted against the legislation, and even went so far as to call it “generational theft” and hypocritically complained that it contained “corporate giveaways.”

<SNIP>

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/02/13/obamas-bipartisanship/

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. He has tried to fulfill a campaign pledge. He can at least say he tried.

& he hasn't lost a damn thing by doing it either.

[Better Believe It]

14. People didn't vote for a "reach-out lovefest" with Republicans. We voted for change!

[The_Casual_Observer]

17. People voted for all kinds of reasons.

"There is only ONE United States!"

[Two Americas]

31. the main reason

The main reason for the Democratic party landslide is that the people have rejected Reaganomics and the religious right.

This is not the time to let up, to retreat back into a shallow and weak partisanship and hide behind a superficial loyalty to a personality. The stakes are too high. The infatuation with the personality of Obama, and the admiration and enthusiasm are a good thing, and were useful for rallying the troops during the campaign and bringing new people into politics. But that is not sufficient now, and can actually be a handicap and can negatively impact the prospects for the success of the new administration.

I don't think the cult if personality is necessarily a bad thing, and it can contribute in a positive way. But when people claim that this is the only way to contribute, the only way to support the administration and the only way to be loyal, and demand that all conform to that, and use it to suppress the free and open discussion or to discourage dissent, that works against our success.

[treestar]

33. But the change is in the way DC works

And Obama did things differently. The Republicants continued with the same old thing.

[demokatgurrl]

21. I hope he's through with this pledge

no need to keep beating a dead horse.

[damonm]

22. Oh, I hope NOT!

Because the rethugs have been eagerly digging their own political grave because of Obama's outreach.

He knows they won't work with him - he's forcing them into unreasonability so we can have a DEATH GRIP on DC by this time in 2011. See my post downthread.(#9, to be precise)

[Two Americas]

30. agreed

However, he does lose something if we blow in the wind, always seeking to cheer on the team no matter what, and see dissent as a threat and try to silence it. Let him apply his political skills and strategy. Our job is not to stand by and admire it. Our job is to remain steadfast in speaking out as citizens in a representative democracy for the principles and ideals we stand for, the principles and ideals that are the only reason we support any politician in the first place.

The way to "let him do his job," is to do our job. The way to support the administration and the party is to support the principles and ideals that are the true program, not some transient political agenda. The way to be loyal to the administration and the party is to be loyal to each other and to the truth as we see it.

[HughMoran]

2. So he got more than could ever have been expected accomplished

...bbbbbut he should be criticized for attempting to show bipartisanship because....?

I don't get it :shrug:

[gratefultobelib]

3. Mind-boggling. Important lessons to be learned very early on in his presidency. I admit

I naively believed the Republicans would want to do what was best for the country, too!

[glowing]

4. Yes, but he has made himself look really good to those people who

don't pay attention to politics and to those who sway back and forth. He tried really hard, and they looked like idiots.

[Avalux]

5. I think Obama knew this would happen but he still had to try.

He promised he'd try to work with Pukes and will STILL do so; it only makes them look bad when the take their marbles and go home. ;-)

[Zodiak]

27. Yup....I think that he would have no political cover to do what needs to be done otherwise

Obama plays chess.

Republicans play checkers.

Still....the criticism is warranted because it is the CRITICISM that will give Obama his political cover.

So everyone keep complaining about bipartisanship so we can scrap it. We should know our place in the political theater and play our parts accordingly.

[grantcart]

6. Its been very fruitful - get out and talk to regular folks even Republicans

and the universal reaction I hear is that the Republicans are digging their own grave. He is looking intelligent, far sighted and courteous and they are seen as stupid, short sighted and rude.

I just got back from walking the dog and the widow at the end of the street (registered as a Republican) came out to tell me how angry she is at all of the Republicans.


The Republicans in Washington have seperated themselves from Republican Governors, Republican Mayors and Republican businesspeople.


For four short weeks that is a lot in return for a few symbolic efforts.


No serious person now thinks that McCain should have been President.

[cliffordu]

16. DING DING DING We have a winner!!!!

He just paid for the next 4 years when it comes to people trusting him to be fair.

(Thanks for the hearts, to whoever gave them to me....)

[firedupdem]

7. I don't see all the efforts as wasted. The only one I never cared

for was the Gregg pick. There was something slimy about that guy and I'm glad he's gone. As for the rest, it's all good. Obama has worked in the senate and he knows the rethugs are pigs. He makes them look like slime for the rest of his presidency. He can always say he tried and they said No. Every Dem running in 2010 can say they are willing to reach across the isle but the rethugs won't.

Remember, people have complained about the "gridlock" and "partisanship" in the white house. They can never accuse him or the Dems of it for a good long while. They look like total obstructionist jerks. They have screwed themselves.

[gblady]

35. I agree.....

not wasted effort at all...
I think it will prove invaluable in the times ahead.
Much too early to cast judgment.

[Perky]

8. It is not wasted if the GOP looks petty and utterly partisan and foolish,

They cast the die when the they voted en masse against the original Houes Bill.

[damonm]

9. Determined not to get it, eh?

He's not honestly expecting bipartisanship from the Thuggys. He's PLAYING them, like Hendrix on a Strat. He knows damn good & well that, if he reaches out to them, and appears to include them, he will force them to retreat further into their "crazy-ass base land", because God knows the GOP base WILL NOT tolerate ANY working with Democrats. This will alienate them even further from the reality-based world, and cause them to lose influence (and more Congressional seats!). Democrats win.

If they cooperate with Obama, Democrats win; they get their agenda enacted, but the GOP base will stay home in droves, or worse, support primary challengers to these "RINOs". These will be Palinesque lunatics who will get handed their heads in the general election; again, Democrats win.

Note that the polls are already indicating that this strategy (being the reasonable guy, and forcing the opposition into unreasonability)is working - Congressional GOP ratings are down, and Obama got just about the package he wanted in the stim bill.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - the man (Pres. Obama) cut his political teeth in CHICAGO.
You think he's naive? Think he doesn't have a plan? Keep underestimating him at your peril - the Rethugs sure seem like they are.

[cliffordu]

18. He is a Chicago politician, alright. I wouldn't want to have to play against him.

A Chicago politician and a constitutional law expert.....

Keep watching. The prosecution of war crimes might be a lot closer and more relentless than any of us think.

He knows he can't let it slide.

(sorry about the thread hijack.....Tylenol 3...)

[Two Americas]

34. that may be

But this is not a football game, and admiring the moves of the star running back is not "support" or "loyalty" to the team and does nothing to help the team win.

We "get" it. He is brilliant. We are of no use or value to the new administration if we merely cheer lead and if we demand that everyone "get" it - stand by in admiration and speak no critical words. That is abrogating our duties and responsibilities as citizens and using Obama as an excuse for doing that. That makes us dead weight, not "supporters." That is merely being "loyal" to our own emotional needs to identify with a winner.

Loving and admiring Obama is not a bad thing, and could be constructive. But when it is used as a stalking horse for the suppression of dissent - as it most definitely is - that undermines and sabotages the new administration and the party. We need the contributions and support of millions of people who will never fall in love with Obama the man, and we should not make that a requirement before we will see people as allies or treat them with respect and consideration. This is narrowing his potential base of support, alienating people, and dividing and conquering us right here.

People's personal emotional need to identify with the winner should not be seen as more important than anything else, should not be given the highest priority, should not be used as an excuse to enforce conformity in thought and speech. That is self-indulgent and counter-productive.

[FrenchieCat]

10. President Obama did it right, and I wouldn't have him change a thing!

But that's just me!

[Undercurrent]

11. How is it a wasted?

For example:

Gallup:

[Danger Mouse]

12. It's not wasted. He's got a high approval rating, the Repukes are hated by everybody...

and it'll only get better.
Now the Repukes can't play the victim card without looking even stupider than they already do.
THey're digging their own graves. Obama handed them the shovel.

[Condem]

13. Excellent post, jefferson.

About says it all.

[Clio the Leo]

15. I'm sorry, I'm too busy counting his increasing poll numbers ...

... to reply to this thread. :-)

[AtomicKitten]

19. Obama has secured permanent claim of the high road and thus the upper hand. n/t

[Proud Liberal Dem]

20. I wouldn't call it wasted

He remained true to what he campaigned (and won) on, namely attempting to bring real "change" to the existing political order by reaching out to the opposition, the Republicans' reactions to his attempts to reach out to them have seemed petty and mean-spirited, his approval ratings have remained strong (if not risen slightly), and people's opinions of the Republicans (well, most of them anyway) seems to have sunk even lower (if possible). And Obama ultimately got (more or less of) his stimulus plan passed early on in his first term WITH at least a few Republican votes in the Senate (a nice bonus). Basically, the Republicans look bad, Obama looks great. So, how were his efforts "wasted". He can now credibly claim that he tried to work with the Republicans and all they did was bite his hand. Their obstructionist tactics apparently didn't work well in the last Congress and they don't seem to be working out so well for them now either. Thank you President Obama!!!!

:toast:

[Two Americas]

23. brilliantly played

I think his political instincts are right, and he played this well. No surprise there, since most already knew that we had elected an extraordinarily talented politician.

However, that is but one of four factors, the other three being the general public, the MSM, and the activist community, as represented here. The ultimate success of the administration depends mostly upon the general public, but the MSM and we here play important roles. The general public is sliding into despair, and things may get worse, possibly a lot worse, before they get better. The public will support the administration to the degree that they get relief, or at least have cause for hope to believe that relief is on the way. I see no way to achieve that with centrism and bipartisanship, and without moving far to the Left from where we are now. A retreat back into neo-liberalism - free trade, free markets and all of the rest - will be fatal, because it cannot ever actually bring any relief to the people, and because it will not inspire any hope either. The public has caught on to that game, and without jobs, health care and housing it will be irrelevant how clever any politician may be. Eventually, sort of, a little help, a start and the rest of the rhetoric that sounds clever and reasonable and that appeals to some people here will mean nothing to people who are desperate.

The MSM can be depended upon to sabotage the administration however they possibly can. We have almost no influence there. and are unlikely to in the near future.

Three of the variables, then, are known. That leaves us - the writers, thinkers, organizers, and speakers on the Left - or the anemic, cowed and disorganized sentiment that passes for the political Left in this country.

That leaves us. There is an alarming, and I believe destructive - destructive to the administration not to mention the party and the country - movement underway to force everyone into a narrow and strident partisanship, a demand for all of us to rubber stamp anything and everything the administration says and does, and to see our role as little more than cheer leaders and hero worshipers.

The entire political process is dominated by the wealthy and powerful few, and they have immense resources and a deadly determination to crush any hints of a popular uprising. No politician, no matter how talented, can move any farther to the Left than they are forced to do by popular opinion. The public cannot possibly coalesce and be heard if the activist community is not developing and disseminating a powerful left wing narrative. That means that we are the obstacle, the bottle neck, the gate keepers. We are the small group with the greatest leverage, the greatest power.

I know that many are sincerely inspired by the new administration, and there is much to admire, and that is fine. But that is giving cover to the few who are not primarily interested in the success of the administration, other then in a very shallow partisan way, but are looking for every opportunity to force it to the right, toward centrism and conservatism, toward protecting the haves at the expense of the have-nots. This is now the greatest threat to the potential success of the new administration, in my view, as well as to the well being of the people and the future of the party.

There is much confusion about this, because the move to the right effort is masquerading as "support" and "loyalty" to the new administration and to the party, and through the use of very aggressive fear-mongering and bullying tactics is able to look much larger than it is.

[demokatgurrl]

25. I "heart" your post. n/t

[Solomon]

24. I'm still amazed that even now, a lot of people don't get it.

(shakes head) what is it about Obama that people underestimate him so. Look at the original post. Obama got so much out of opening his hand toward republicans that it would take too long to list them. Yet in every instance, the post says he got nothing out of it.

(slowly shakes head)

[Two Americas]

28. they are not trying to

The people you are complaining about "get" it about Obama, they just don't think that "getting" it about one personality is the end of the story. As I said in my post above, Obama's talents and brilliance are not what is at issue. What is at issue is what our role is, what we should be doing and saying. We have to do a little more than "get" it about Obama, and then place all of our hopes on the success of his political career. No matter how brilliant he is, he is a politician with a political career and he is an elected official in a representative democracy. His brilliance does not relieve us of our duties and responsibilities as citizens in a democracy.

I don't think that "getting" it about Obama, and then watching him as though he were a hero in some movie and defending and admiring him, is "support" or "loyalty" to the administration or the party, and I think that it actually represents a serious threat to the success of the administration and the party.

I "get" it about Obama. I wish others would "get" it about how a representative democracy works, what our duties and responsibilities are, and what true support of and loyalty to the administration and the party really mean.

[Solomon]

36. Aw jeez. The post is about Obama's failure and you're

talking about something else. No, these people do not get it if all they see is failure. Why is there such concern over "hero worship" all of a sudden? It's hyperbole and a right wing meme.

[Two Americas]

40. I don't care about hero worship

Admire politicians all you like. I am not talking about that, and I don't care what the right wingers are saying. I am talking about seeing anyone expressing anything other than hero worship being seen as the enemy, and being falsely accused of calling Obama a failure, of being opposed to Obama, or of helping the right wingers.

[TwilightGardener]

26. I was all for bipartisan problem-solving, until I realized this past month

that the opposition party does not want to help solve problems--they want Obama to fail, they want to see him destroyed, they want Americans to suffer so much that eventually we turn back to them in desperation. I'll bet Obama knew that, though--he was in the Senate, he knew these clowns and how they operate. No one will be trumpeting bipartisanship now--that's all out of our system, and Obama can now work on getting his way, unencumbered by no longer trying to accomodate the destructive GOP morons.

[spanone]

29. it's like reaching your hand out to a rabid dog

[dbmk]

42. Yeah

But Obama had to reach out his hand to it to make the case that it indeed is.

[Radical Activist]

32. Wasted if you don't see the connection between his sky high approval ratings

and the efforts at bipartisanship the blog listed. Some people just don't get it.

[Window]

37. I disagree. Pres. Obama's efforts weren't wasted at all. He, beautifully,

showed the world how the game should be played. Yes, indeed, President Obama made the republicans look like the childish, jealous idiots they are.


Peace:thumbsup:

[Hekate]

38. Frank Rich sure didn't think Big O wasted his efforts. See links...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5055729

and

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/opinion/15rich.html?ref=opinion

First, my very favorite paragraph:
The G.O.P. doesn’t recognize that it emerged from the stimulus battle even worse off than when it started. That obliviousness gives the president the opening to win more ambitious policy victories than last week’s. Having checked the box on attempted bipartisanship, Obama can now move in for the kill.


February 15, 2009
OP-ED COLUMNIST
They Sure Showed That Obama

By FRANK RICH
AM I crazy, or wasn’t the Obama presidency pronounced dead just days ago? Obama had “all but lost control of the agenda in Washington,” declared Newsweek on Feb. 4 as it wondered whether he might even get a stimulus package through Congress. “Obama Losing Stimulus Message War” was the headline at Politico a day later. At the mostly liberal MSNBC, the morning host, Joe Scarborough, started preparing the final rites. Obama couldn’t possibly eke out a victory because the stimulus package was “a steaming pile of garbage.”

Less than a month into Obama’s term, we don’t (and can’t) know how he’ll fare as president. The compromised stimulus package, while hardly garbage, may well be inadequate. Timothy Geithner’s uninspiring and opaque stab at a bank rescue is at best a place holder and at worst a rearrangement of the deck chairs on the TARP-Titanic, where he served as Hank Paulson’s first mate.

But we do know this much. Just as in the presidential campaign, Obama has once again outwitted the punditocracy and the opposition. The same crowd that said he was a wimpy hope-monger who could never beat Hillary or get white votes was played for fools again.

On Wednesday, as a stimulus deal became a certainty on Capitol Hill, I asked David Axelrod for his take on this Groundhog Day relationship between Obama and the political culture.

“It’s why our campaign was not based in Washington but in Chicago,” he said. >snip<

In any event, the final score was unambiguous. The stimulus package arrived with the price tag and on roughly the schedule Obama had set for it. The president’s job approval percentage now ranges from the mid 60s (Gallup, Pew) to mid 70s (CNN) — not bad for a guy who won the presidency with 52.9 percent of the vote. While 48 percent of Americans told CBS, Gallup and Pew that they approve of Congressional Democrats, only 31 (Gallup), 32 (CBS) and 34 (Pew) percent could say the same of their G.O.P. counterparts. >snip<

[kwenu]

39. It almost seems to underscore in the public's mind how much repubs are asses...doesn't it?

[Vinca]

41. Maybe not so wasted when you think about it.

It's clear he tried very hard to get Republicans on board and it's also clear they turned their backs, hoping the plan will fail and, therefore, also hoping the country will fail. Except for the most brainwashed, I'm betting most of the citizens are aware of this. Elected Republicans in Congress are betting on the country failing. Not exactly the way to win votes next election. Not even the way to be taken seriously when the next Obama bill comes up for discussion. Republicans are in the process of a long, slow, public suicide and intervention is not an option.

[adamkadmon]

43. No Republican Votes

Hi, I wonder, if the entire no votes in The House, was to mask
the possibly racist no votes from the South. adam