President Lashes Out at the Left: “This Country Was Founded on Compromise”

[beforeyoureyes]

I basically knew everything the President said in his press conference today, but let’s parse a bit of it:

1) The tax cut deal is going down in flames specifically because of Democrats. You would think that a Democratic President wouldn’t have to call out his own party if he didn’t need the votes.

2) The President is still very ticked off about the public option. He thinks he was right in negotiating it away in order to move forward on health care, and everyone who criticizes him for that is an irresponsible idealist.

3) The “This country was founded on compromise” line was kind of funny. Because he just got done saying that the Republicans view tax cuts as their Holy Grail and won’t budge on it, so… he moved to them. The Republicans, then, don’t get the brunt of that broadside about the essential importance of compromise, because THEY DIDN’T COMPROMISE TO GET THE MAIN THING THAT THEY WANTED. Democrats, however, are excoriated because they don’t look enough at the big picture. What the President doesn’t understand, or doesn’t want to understand, is that the Bush tax cuts are as foundational an issue for the left as he understands they are for the right. Or perhaps, he knows that he has leverage over the left that he doesn’t have over the right, and so he uses different standards for each.

4) Obama says that this wasn’t a road map to how to beat him politically, and that things will be different when this comes up again in 2012. Also, on the debt limit, he expects John Boehner to be very responsible and not extract concessions from him in exchange for that vote. Hilarious!

Anyway, despite knowing that the President on down in the White House felt this way, I can’t help but be a little taken aback by this display. He did just about everything but say, “and you know what else, Sista Souljah was a bad rapper!”


More at:

http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/12/07/president-lashes-out-at-the-left-this-country-was-founded-on-compromise/

[yourout]

1. Obama may have guaranteed himself being a 1 termer after todays press conference.

Throwing your base under the bus is a lousy way to get re-elected.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

18. Oui. Si. Ja. Yup. Hai. Yes.

[beforeyoureyes]

21. It is indeed. People here can unrecommend this all day, but it doesn't change the fact Obama

...is losing his base.

[emilyg]

22. Correct. Rec

[roguevalley]

36. compromise? Quizling capitulation doesn't equal compromise.

what we are seeing is ego talking. he's gotten so much attention for his genius that he's believed it. We are all screwed.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

2. This country was not founded on compromise. It was founded on

a revolution.

[JoePhilly]

16. Which explains the 3 co-equal branches of our government.

The revolution was not simply about the colonies versus the British, it was also about how America's government would actually run AFTER we became our own country.

The founders wanted to DIVIDE government power ... and THAT is the compromise Obama speaks of.

Those on the left who now want Obama to TAKE POWER ignore this.

[JCMach1]

33. Wrong... you forgot the 'checks' part of checks and balances...

[JoePhilly]

51. Didn't forget anything.

As soon as you have three co-equal branches, and then, you split one of those into the House and the Senate, you have checks and balances all over the place.

The entire process of amendments (at the level of the Constitution and at the level of individual legislation) SCREAMS compromise.

The notion of near endless debate was a central part of how our Constitution came to be.

The idea that anyone who understands how our government works would be upset by Obama's comment is ridiculous. But this is DU, and "ridiculousness" thrives here in recent times.

[JCMach1]

56. Checks are not compromise! They are direct CHECKS on power!

[JoePhilly]

58. Checks are used to force compromise.

Take DADT ... the Senate is now, sadly, a CHECK on Obama's power to repeal it.

A GOP House passes a prayer in schools bill, the Senate does not vote on it ... CHECK.

States vote to prevent blacks and whites from marrying ... the SC overturns those laws ... CHECK.

COMPROMISE.

Obama's statement remains TRUE.

Which semantic game would you like to play next?

[JCMach1]

61. You are wrong... Impeachment does not result in compromise

a veto override is certainly not compromise, etc.

[JoePhilly]

64. You are wrong ... a Veto can be overridden.

Your example of impeachment is silly. At some point, a final position comes to exist for all government action. That does not mean there was no compromise. Rarely is the final outcome what EVERYONE wants.

You mention impeachment, so let's take the impeachment of Clinton. The House passed it, the Senate did not. The House wanted to remove Clinton from office. Did they get to do so? No.

The final position, is a compromise. They were able to impeach him symbolically, but without the Senate's agreement, he stayed in office. The end position is a compromise. The members of the House did not get to kick Clinton out unilaterally. They needed the agreement of the Senate. And in the end, they LOST.

The final outcome was a compromise. He was impeached and yet stayed in office.

[brendan120678]

29. Freedom was founded on a Revolution.

Our government was founded on a Compromise (many compromises, actually).

[Drahthaardogs]

41. My thoughts too

I thought this country was founded by a bunch of people who were kind of sick of the ruling class's bullshit and picked up some guns, picked a fight, and kicked some ass. But I got a C in history in 7th grade so maybe I missed the compromise part.

[treestar]

47. Which only took place due to compromise that got the 13 colonies together

[totodeinhere]

54. I think he means that our constitution was a compromise. n/t

[Jamastiene]

3. Compromise, not capitulation. n/t

[tavalon]

43. Ah, now there's some truth

It isn't compromise when you come to the table already having given away the farm. It's not surprising that Obama would bring up the Public option capitulation. We are all having deja vu.

[Milo_Bloom]

60. DING DING DING DING!

[LiberalFighter]

4. Founded on compromises? How?

Maybe on the British side when they were defeated and the Colonies dictated the terms of surrender. Not much of a compromise.

[Clio the Leo]

23. Might want to read a little history tonight...

.... specifically in regards to how the founding fathers dealt with the slavery issue. Tip: We didn't suddenly decide it was a bad idea in 1861.

[Name removed]

48. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[eleny]

5. The other alternative for him was to admit that he got a crappy deal

So, instead, he came out blazing at the base that we don't see the wonder of it all.

[RandomKoolzip]

6. Yeah, funny how he frames compromise as a god thing -

but doesn't seem to want to extend the benefits of that "good thing" to those across the aisle he wishes to work with. It's only the liberals who have to compromise. Why is that?

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

7. It was founded on fighting for what you want.

[msongs]

8. so Obama lied to us and now he thinks we will believe him in 2012 even tho we are stuck with him? nt

[Life Long Dem]

25. How was it a lie?

Obama always used the word permanent, as in temporary opposed to permanent tax cuts. And as you see the repubs didn't get their permanent tax cuts.

[bvar22]

27. Yes they did.

These Tax Cuts for Billionaires and Trust Fund Babies are NOW "permanent", despite the Big Lie Obama kept repeating at the press conference.

I DARE you to point out how the political situation will change for the better in two years so that we will be able to ax these ruinous cuts.
THIS (Democratic Majorities in both houses plus the White House, plus overwhelming popular support) WAS the BEST and LAST opportunity to return to a sane Tax Policy...
and this Last Chance was just thrown away.

Things will NOT be better in two years.

[tavalon]

44. Yes they did

Playing with words is just playing with words. 2012, they will be extended again, either temporarily or permanently, depending on who wins the White House - something that was not in play until very recently and never should have been in play.

[TheCowsCameHome]

9. Compromise is different than knuckling under. n/t

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bajamary]

11. he's no FDR

Obama who is being sanctimonious by attacking the progressive dems.

Obama simply gave the GOP everything they wanted. Everything .

History shows us that other presidents, namely FDR, did fight against seemingly unsurmount able odds and he WON.

The protracted battle to create Frances Perkins' dream, otherwise known as Social Security, was considered to be absolutely unwinnable - not a snow balls chance in hell, as they said at the time.

But they stood and fought and they WON.

No amount of Obama excuses by saying that "the odds were against us - this is the best we can do, etc." is necessary.

When you know the history of what Frances Perkins and FDR created, Obama is a mere shadow, and a very pale one at that.”

[boppers]

62. FDR started concentration camps in the US and a mass murder weapon program.

Obama is not that morally corrupt, so, you are correct.

Obama is no FDR.

That's a good thing.

[pscot]

12. we would be paying an extension of the Stamp Tax

and featuring Elizabeth II on our money if Mr.Obama had been negotiating for the colonists. The accusation of excessive idealism sounds a lot like the Pony slur that loyalists used to throw around back in the days when the President still had credibility. I got to give him credit, though. He don't take no shit from liberals.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

15. no kidding.

his quest for pragmatism has blinded him to a few simple, straight-forward, and easy to understand concepts. Right vs. wrong. Up vs. down. Ultra,unbelievably wealthy vs. millions without jobs or hope. Somehow, this man has been transfigured, changed, altered, or had his brain washed. He forgot the needs of the needy, the hunger that so many millions feel, and the horror of losing one's home, one's job, one's future.

He has become a corporatist, a representative of the Wall, the Insurer, and the Big Pharma.

[dflprincess]

50. But at least we'd have access to health care

and a better safety net for everyone.

[TheBigotBasher]

13. Fuck that POS scum

Why would the President mention anything about rap? Why was that added?

Did he "lash out" at the left? Why does the right think he "lashed out" at them? In fact when does Obama "lash out" and act the big angry black man? He does not it has never been his style to "lash out".

[LiberalEsto]

14. If we had compromised with the British in 1776

we'd be singing "God Save the Queen" and saluting the Union Jack.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

17. and if Lincoln had followed his advisors' suggestions,

slavery would still exist. Every one of them objected to the Emancipation Proclamation. Only he, Abe Lincoln, had the internal strength, the character, the presence of mind and the innate fairness and justice in his heart to do it anyway. Mr. Obama would have put off that decision until after the unfortunate Dispute between some States, which should be dealt with by considering the positions of all parties concerned, knowing that the most liberal of those objecting to a constitutionally defined institution can easily be ignored.

[Joe Bacon]

20. And we might have a Labour government, too...

Instead we've had a succession of Tories since Johnson left the White House...

[tickledropstop]

19. It tells me Liberals are better served if they Dont Budge since Obama will listen only then

[Bobbie Jo]

24. Unrec nt

[quaker bill]

26. He is working for re-election

cutting deals will work for that. As he works with the new republican house, it will become more and more difficult to sustain an image of him as a radical outsider to the inflamed right, and it will endear him to the center, where the most votes lie. If the economy recovers, which looks more and more probable, he will be re-elected on compromise easily.

Yes, it will inflame the left, but we are at best 10 percent of the democrats, or about 3 percent of the people. We could all vote for Nader and this time it will not matter.

What will even work better is if he works with them, and they still go off the reservation, time and time again. Which I am pretty sure the tea party wackaloons will, they promised as much and I expect will deliver.

[bvar22]

28. You're kidding, right?

If Obama keeps giving in to the Republicans.....
They will suddenly start liking him???? :shrug:
And The Republicans and their Media Talking Heads will STOP attacking him because he is being nice to them???

That is not gonna happen, no mater HOW much he gives in to them.

[Autumn]

30. that's funny

:spray:

[niceypoo]

32. Delusional

[quaker bill]

38. Watch and learn

I haven't missed since the 1960s. I even told my parents JFK would win.

[GOTV]

31. We COMPROMISED with the British and they were nice enough to let us have the country.

[RBInMaine]

34. What nonsense. You obviously need a history lesson. The country WAS founded on compromise. Read a

gradeschool history book.

[derby378]

42. So we compromised with King George III on WHAT, exactly?

Wasn't it Lord North who threw up his hands in dismay and said "My God! It is all over" when Cornwallis was forced to surrender at Yorktown? No compromise there.

Obama needs to smell what bullshit he's shovelling.

[JoePhilly]

52. Read up on the process of writng and then passing the US Constitution.

THAT is the document our country was founded on. And it defines how American Government works. And if you understand that document, then you know that this country was in fact FOUNDED on COMPROMISE.

The Revolution was a fight for the American Colonies to become INDEPENDENT so they could then FOUND a new government. Which they did. And our founding document, the US Constitution, is all about COMPROMISE.

Having lived under all powerful kings, the FOUNDERS wanted to SEPARATE THE POWERS ... in doing so, they created a system that requires DEBATE and COMPROMISE.

[derby378]

53. Sorry, that doesn't wash

The "Three-Fifths Compromise" only set our nation on a path towards a bloody civil war. Compromise will only bring you heartbreak. And Republicans? They see compromise as a sign of weakness. Maybe it's time we did, too.

[cascadiance]

35. Then Obama, WHY don't you lecture REPUBLICANS on that if you believe it so much!

THEY are the ones that have been as uncompromising as any bunch in our congressional history!

Just because someone appears to be making it favorable for you to take THEIR stands behind the scenes doesn't mean that we feel it is appropriate as well.

BZZTTT! Try again!

[Hepburn]

37. Yep, right...compromise...

...with King George...:eyes:

[The Backlash Cometh]

39. Then we need a better negotiator.

I'm just sayin'.

[budkin]

40. When's he gonna "lash out" at the GOP... oh yeah, never.

[RiverStone]

45. His "compromise" comment might make sense, if Republicans compromised!

They rarely do.

In fact, they wave a banner of being obstructionists to our president.

Compromise only works if both sides are equally invested.

[treestar]

46. Everything is a foundational issue

Every issue is the line in the sand for the overdramatic left.

[SHRED]

49. What good is a lawyer who doesn't know how to negotiate?

What good is a Constitutional Scholar who thinks the country would be better off if Bush and Cheney got a pass?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

55. I thought NorquistDogLake was banned from this site. Is that not the case? (nt)

[Bluenorthwest]

57. This comes from Firedog Lake

a large website that many people here link to, daily. If you knew DU, you would know of it. Grover Nordquist is a Republican whom Obama sought for advice on his financial plans for America. You do know that don't you? The germ Nordquist is on Obama's kissy face meeting list.

[kiva]

59. Of course it was.

Let's see, there was the 3/5 compromise - a way for southern states to have more representation by declaring that slaves were 3/5 of a person.

Oh, and then there was the compromise that the U.S. would be allowed to participate in the international slave trade until 1808 - wrong, I know, but don't you know they needed to COMPROMISE.

And let's not forget that pesky part that said escaped slaves had to be returned to their masters, even if they managed to make it to a non-slave state.

Yup, the nation was founded on compromise, President Obama.

[avaistheone1]

63. k&r