Obama's bipartisanship efforts are becoming surreal.

[cali]

Look, I get why he's done it. The public wants bipartisanship and I can only presume that a lot of this has been political, but for the love of reason, why continue doing it? There comes a time- and in my opinion that time has definitely come- where the President has to say clearly and firmly that he's tried every possible way of reaching out to the repugs and has been met with nothing but stony opposition to everything. He needs to tell the American people this.

[leftstreet]

1. K&R

[Dinger]

2. K & R (nt)

[spanone]

3. i wish he would go on teevee and tell the people he's tried...time & time again

give all the examples

then tell the people we are MOVING ON. they can participate or go fuck themselves.

[Avalux]

4. Or is it better to keep extending his hand, and have the GOP refuse?

I think actions speak louder than words. By refusing a televised debate, the GOP say more than Obama could ever say to the American people about their lack of bipartisanship.

I disagree with you.

[spanone]

6. watch the teevee, it will not be spun that way. they are patriots looking out for our every dollar.

to keep extending your hand only to have it shit on gets nothing done

[Gman2]

5. It's best to extend a fake hand. And a sledge in the other.

With the whining and weeping that the Rethugs do, if Obama said pound sand, he would be turned on. The polls say that too much Dem power is bad. So, politics.

[sandnsea]

7. He's going to let the American people SEE IT

I really don't know why that's so difficult for people to grasp. The distortion of what the American people HEAR ought to be quite clear just from DU.

[pleah]

8. I keep wondering why, too. But, jeeze, how many times does he have to

get his hand bitten before he wises up?

[WhiteTara]

9. I think after the HRC circus on 2/26

if they don't fall into place, he will be able to do that with ease.

[AlinPA]

10. "...that he has extended his hand but was met with a fist".

[Taverner]

11. He's Charlie Brown to the GOP's Lucy

And we are the football

[Mari333]

12. I think the public would love it if he would tell the GOP

to stick it where the sun doesnt shine.

Im not holding my breath.

[Political Heretic]

13. We agree, though I don't think its a mystery why he's doing it.

[left coaster]

14. Does the public really care that much about bipartisanship?

Or is that the meme the corporate media is peddling? I've not talked with anyone who gives two sh*ts about bipartisanship, at this point.. they just want results.


Einstein once said “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. No matter what his reasoning is for continuing to try, how much longer can Obama attempt to 'reach out' to the Party of Obstructionist Sociopaths? Enough already!

Mr. President, with all due respect..Address the public and tell them you've tried..though I get the feeling that a good many Americans have already figured this out by now.. Then, after that, don't look back and rally the Dems to get some work done!

[cali]

15. I think the public does care- at least that's what they say

but it's time to hang it up.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

16. Cali, it was surreal before Iowa

This is everything he was promising.

It was a stupid and weird as an obsession as it is in execution.

[xchrom]

17. Because the bill isn't anti-people enough yet.

That's why the 'bi-partisanship'.

[cali]

18. pointless in any case. Bonehead and McConnell are now suggesting

that pukes will boycott any meeting with him on healthcare because, they say, the American people have rejected the dems health care legislation. Of course they don't say that a good number of them reject it because there is no public option.

The President said he thinks the meeting today went well.

[JoeyT]

19. The public doesn't give a damn about bipartisanship.

The only people calling for bipartisanship are right wingers. Everyone else just wants results, and they're not going to care whose fault it arguably* is that the process was held up. They're going to blame the people in power.

*I say arguably because it isn't like "Republicans are obstructing!" is coming as a shock anymore. So the people that insist on bringing them on board are just as much to blame for nothing getting done.

[devilgrrl]

20. I don't get it either.

K&R

[dave29]

21. That day will come. He is smart enough to make the sell.

The State of the Union Was the Beginning.

[oldlib]

22. It isn't working.

The repugs only seize it as an opportunity to repeat the line that the American people are against the proposed health reform.

[bullwinkle428]

23. BWAH-HA-HA-HA!!! Rachel just showed that Obama, through the Senate

health care bill, has given Boner & company EVERY ONE of the four demands that he insisted upon!!

Proof that this demand for bipartisanship on the part of the Repukes is nothing more than complete and utter theater!

[Bluerthanblue]

24. he IS telling the American people this- he did it today, and he'll

continue to do it- WE need to underscore the truth that the Republicans only tout the bi-partisan meme when no one holds them accountable.

interesting Poll out today:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/behind-the-numbers/2010/02/americans_spread_the_blame_whe.html

About three-quarters of Democrats see the congressional Republicans as intransigent, while a similar proportion of Republicans see Obama that way. But even Republicans are critical of their congressional leadership, with 44 percent seeing them as doing too little to strike deals with Obama; that compares with just 13 percent of Democrats worried about inaction on Obama's part.

[amborin]

25. k and r

[Joe the Liberal]

26. I agree, after a whole year of bipartisanship you'd think he would get the message.....

but nope, it seems like it's just an excuse to not get anything done.

[D23MIURG23]

27. I'm not even sure the bipartisan thing is political anymore.

It seems to me that Obama hasn't gotten much political mileage out of it. Furthermore I can't imagine someone as intelligent and politically deft as this man wouldn't recognize that.

I don't know what Obama's deal is, but the tone he struck with the supreme court is one he needs to be using more often. Its possible to make real changes without being overly violent or antagonistic, but no one does it without making a lot of people uncomfortable.

[TCJ70]

28. I think Obama should do more of this stuff...until...

...he has enough ammo to use, enough soundbites, enough video, enough evidence of republican obstructionism to use against healthcare reform opponents (repub and democrat). Doing it in the public eye on camera is even better and hasn't been done enough.

[bvar22]

29. The public did not vote for bi-partisanship.

The public voted for "CHANGE".

Had Obama campaigned on appeasing Republicans, Wall Street, and Health Insurance Corporations, I don't think he would have been elected.

[cali]

30. one is not necessarily exclusionary of the other

polls show that Americans overwhelmingly support bipartisanship- but that's hardly an excuse to keep on this path.

[rudy23]

31. I'm still wondering who in the public is clamoring for bipartisanship. I really don't ever hear it.

I think that demand is self-generated.

[immoderate]

32. Theater. He has to bring them out on the stage.

He has to get through the Republicans and the media. He is exposing them. He need enough ammo to just dump them, but he has to highlight their uselessness first.

--imm