can anyone here recall a situation like we've seen with Obama and the repukes?

[leftofthedial]

Whatever you think of him, he seems to have sincerely met the repukes halfway, tried to include them in the agenda of the country going forward and offered them every opportunity to work together. All he has gotten in return is sucker punched, spat upon and told to fuck off. They not only have voted against him in lockstep (except for the three Northeastern Senators), they have been extremely insulting.

I've been paying attention since Kennedy was President and I don't recall any such complete lack of grace on the part of one party to another, especially in the Senate.

[begin_within]

1. Kinda like Clinton...

...who gave them a lot of what they wanted (NAFTA, telcom, welfare) and they still impeached him

[La Lioness Priyanka]

2. thats what i was going to say

[leftofthedial]

6. Clinton was ambushed in the House, but the Senate was less partisan

Plus, lots of stuff got passed with repuke votes during those years.

Right now, on legislation favored by Obama, the repukes are 0% in the House and 5% in the Senate.

Until the Lewinsky affair, the vicious anti-Clinton rhetoric came from radio and think tanks, not from politicians.

[PM Martin]

11. Prepare the Presidential Steamroller!

Crush the Republican Party!

[BlooInBloo]

3. Yup. Didn't work, so he ended up with pretty much everything he originally asked for.

[Arkana]

4. This:

All he has gotten in return is sucker punched, spat upon and told to fuck off.

Add the fact that now that it's over, Senate and House Repubs are pissing and moaning that THEY WERE NOT INCLUDED IN THE PROCESS AND THE PRESIDENT DID NOT REACH OUT TO THEM WAAAAAGGGGGHHHH WE HAVE LOADS IN OUR PANTS.

[kaiden]

18. OMG! You made me drop the cat on the floor!

[wndycty]

5. The Vrdolyak 29

:kick:

[TTUBatfan2008]

7. I'm just going to say it...

it's at least partially because he's not white. All this bullshit about having "respect" for the Oval Office and other garbage coming from Bush's lackies and other Rethugs, etc.

[CakeGrrl]

9. +1. There's an extra element of nasty to it, and I think that's it

It's an elephant in the room. I think it galls the Republican establishment just that much more that all this is being done by a black man.

[rvablue]

12. They pulled the same "disrespectful" BS on Clinton, too. n/t

[TTUBatfan2008]

14. I think their loathing of Clinton...

had to do with his personal scandals, which he had even dating back to the 1992 campaign. Rethuglicans are the ultimate hypocrites. They harp on issues of morality while behaving in immoral ways behind the scenes. Newt's criticism of President Clinton is a good example of this.

[BlooInBloo]

13. Noooooo! REALLY?

:rofl:

[MadMaddie]

22. I agree

it's just basic hatred of President Obama's race. Even though he is 50/50 they are of the old school that 1% black means you are black.

It is disturbing but you know what, let's call them on the bullshit. They are racist and that is the bottom line. Their racism trancends love of America and the Constitution.

I am not surprised by it.....

[Still Sensible]

8. You're right about the lack of grace part

As for the inability of any of their messages to gain any traction, it looks a lot like a reverse Reagan situation. As much as we democrats railed, it was hard for anything to really stick to old teflon Ron.

[Thrill]

10. Obama will get the FDR and Clinton treatment

They will hate him. But the people will love them.

FDR said He welcomed their hated

[trudyco]

15. Republicans have been rude at least since Carter

The president used to give a speech and then they would have the opposition response and they were always ass holes. I think they worked better together in congress in the past (probably because they were the minority party for years), but they were always ass holes to the president. However, now they have a better sounding board.

The media has been bought by the republicans so that changes things.

[The Hope Mobile]

21. Ever since they got seriously embarrassed by Nixon IMHO

[liberalmuse]

16. I've never seen anything like it.

They're acting like the mean girls from Junior High School. Really, I can't fathom why so-called adults would behave in such an ugly, despicable manner, so my theory is that it has to be out of jealousy. I mean, let's face it, President Obama is about as popular as The Beatles were in their heyday. OR, they are racist pieces of shit who resent President Obama fucking up the good 'ol white boys club. They've long ago sold their souls, and here comes this young upstart who rises to the top of power in 4 short years. That would would drive just about any massively corrupt, arrogant, power-hungry politico batshit. Oh, and he's blaaaaack.

[leftstreet]

17. No, but we haven't seen anything like Obama either

I don't think in our lifetimes we've had a prez who not only made history with his election, but had such ENORMOUS political capital - not just in the US but throughout the world.

Why he thought he needed to suck up to the Repubs...

[tomg]

19. In some ways, this reminds me of Clinton, as

a number of posters have mentioned. In other ways, though, it is - at least in terms of basic civility - far worse. Granted that Clinton did compromise and such, but from jump, it was clear ( or at least seemed that way to me) that bipartisanship was necessary and simply realpolitik, not desired. Obama has really gone out of his way to include Republicans, to be open to their positions, to listen. He really sees bipartisanship as a principle of good government. They, in turn, have jerked him around six ways to Sunday. Frankly, I think he is going to give them a little more rope and then hang those fuckers out to dry. And he is going to do it with a smile on his face, with absolute grace and aplomb, and then ask if they're feeling under the weather and would they like a cup of tea. As he said, "I'm an optimist, not a sap."

[Mr. Sparkle]

20. The American Taliban/Gop Party are trying to repeat what they did back in 1994.

They cant hide what they did for the last 8 years, I'd be stupidified if they managed to pull it off.