Obama on Partisan Divide: 'I Could Have Done That a Little Better'

[KamaAina]

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/obama-partisan-divide-i-could-have-done-little-better-n516636

President Obama says he feels that he should have done more during his time in office to reach out to Republicans in an effort to smooth the political polarization in Washington.

"There is no doubt, that every step of the way, every day that I'm in that office, maybe I could have done that a little better," he told the LA Times in an exclusive interview in Springfield, Illinois on Thursday.

Following a much anticipated speech to lawmakers in the Illinois State Senate, President Obama spoke at length about the need for a more respectful, collaborative American political rhetoric and where he fell short. The president sat down with the LA Times and three former colleagues, Illinois state legislators, Republican Kirk Dillard, and Democrats Denny Jacobs and Larry Walsh, to further discuss the gridlock in Washington.

Obama said part of the problem with inviting colleagues or friends from the other side of the aisle to social events at the White House are the political implications of what such an outing may look like to others.

Would it have made an iota of difference if he had?

[tularetom]

1. What he really could have done was to put the pressure on timid Democrats to stand up with him

He has always been too aloof, too above the fray. He needed to have a little bit of LBJ in him.

[irisblue]

2. Seems to me the Rs rejected him at EVERY turn

I think he tried reaching out and those...people... did their best to limit everything he did. The blame is on them, not him. If anything he was too accommodating to them.

[sharp_stick]

3. He tried reaching out

to those assholes more than once and each time wound up pulling back a stump. There is absolutely nothing a Democratic President could do to reach out to them, that party has become a haven for nutjobs and I don't see it getting any better.

[Arugula Latte]

4. OH FFS.

Has he not learned by now? He's black and he's a Democrat. They were never going to give him an inch. That was their stated plan from Day 1.

Gawd I wish Democrats would stick up for themselves. Fuck.

[redwitch]

5. I think he did great to not haul off and slug some of them.

I am certain every president has regrets at the end of their presidency but this does not have to be one of his. The man showed incredible patience and graciousness throughout. They are the problem, not him.

[JHB]

6. That only might have works if it was the "good cop" face...

...of a strategy to drive wedges between he various cracks in their party. And the best available avenue to accomplish that would have been exposing the corruption and misdeeds of the Bushites.

"Look forward not back" didn't work for Bill Clinton, and it didn't work for Barack Obama. For the Exact. Same. Reason.

[B Calm]

7. Everything he did he was reaching out and the cons rejected it.

[pampango]

8. That is not something that any republicans are saying. Their base wants them to be more partisan,

not less.

[Igel]

10. If you haven't listened here, Obama's base also wants him to be more partisan.

And that's the problem: Most of his "overtures" were condescending and offensive to anybody not in his camp.

"Eat your peas." I suspect if a (R) said he was going to be the grown-up and make Obama "eat his peas" we'd immediately hear a dog-whistle that means they're calling Obama a "boy." Even without that, it's an insult.

"I have made a proposal, and all right-thinking people will work together ..." To support it and me. They heard the "dog whistles" that many here overlooked because they agreed with the dog whistles.

One of my favorite gambits was saying, "We have adopted Republican proposals and compromised." Except that the proposals were obscure, old, and supported by virtually no (R). It assumes that he can decide what a compromise that the other side should find reasonable, and if they don't, well, they should eat their peas.

Or things along the lines of "by their standards, this is what they should be doing." Which really means "by my interpretation of what I think their standards are, this is what they should be doing and it just happens to agree with what I think they should be doing to support me."

Even the personal approach he faults himself to taking is of the same ilk. It's more likely to work, but it assumes, I suspect, that if there'd been more personal outreach and actual schmoozing they'd have realized just how right he was and fallen into line.

This is what's been termed "gotcha-politics." The bases are polarized, the news cycle favors gotchas, and it would take a brave and fairly fearless leader to try to overcome the polarization and base division.

As it is both sides seem to think that a representative democracy is where one side gets 55% of the vote and sticks it to the other side. As one commentator on NPR put it today re: South Carolina, they smile, say "bless you," and screw you over without your noticing it. You can't be a democrat and a zealot; you can be a Democrat and a zealot, but that wasn't the norm 20 years ago. Now it's become a sine qua non for many.

[Bradical79]

9. No, I don't think you could

And I'm kind of glad you didn't. With what the Republicans have wanted, I don't know how much more bipartisanship we could have taken.

[hifiguy]

11. You were far too conciliatory as it is.

What you should have done is take your case to the people.

[malokvale77]

12. Here's the problem...

"collaborative American political rhetoric"

Yah, we need some more of that.

[Bonobo]

13. He still doesn't understand, does he?

The Repubs know what they are doing, and it is pulling us to the right to meet the ever-shifting middle.

The real game is controlling the center, just like boxing.

[KamaAina]

14. Or chess.