I don’t understand the OP. We’ve had gridlock for two years. The GOP decided to go for broke and wreck everything in the hope they could blame Obama.
I do fault Obama for not campaigning for Democrats better in 2010 and this year.
Circular reasoning.
The GOP was VERY good at leashing the party to the right, far better than even the substantially more coordinated they have been than the Dems.
Not true at all. The legislation being proposed was if anything to the right of what the public wanted, and the Blue Dogs were willing to sacrifice their seats in Congress to stop Obama and the other Democrats from accomplishing anything. It was the more conservative Democrats who lost their seats; not the more liberal ones.
What about Kathy Hochul then? In 2011, she won a special election to the House in New York’s 26th congressional district. She’s the first Democrat to represent that district in 40 years.
The special election in New York was the only referendum on Republians’ preformance that we had, and it was fought on the most favorable ground possible for Republicans. The public elected a Democrat to stop the Republicans. Their obstructionism should cease.
adaher, can you point to specific filibustered bills with opinion polls showing they were unpopular among the electorate (preferably itemised, rather than just the name of the bill referred to - polls of Tea Party members showed a majority agreed with the individual provisions of the PPACA)?
0bama has been a complete and utter failure which is why he will be defeated.
And their power derived from the fact that moderate GOP senators wouldn’t pay a price for obstruction. In addition, moderate Democrats WOULD pay a price if they went along, so they often didn’t either.
The Blue Dogs sacrificed their careers to HURT the Democrats? Interesting theory. It’s true the Blue Dogs saw their numbers decline, but Republicans won 80 seats between the two chambers. At least half those seats were formerly held by liberals. And the Blue Dogs that survived did so by running hardcore against President Obama and Nancy Pelosi. Some new Blue Dogs got elected in the process, such as Joe Manchin, who ran ads showing him actually shooting Democratic bills being proposed.
You can trot out any poll you want about this or that specific proposal, but the fact is, almost every politician not in a deep blue district ran against the democrats in 2010. Based purely on what Democrats had actually passed. Obstruction was rewarded because it’s what the voters wanted.
Kathy Hochul won the race based on Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan. I think it’s safe to say the voters do not back that plan and if republicans push it without gaining public support for it, they’ll deserve to lose.
But see, Republicans rarely do that. You don’t often see Republicans passing bills without getting some bipartisan cover. Democrats in 2009-2010 routinely passed bills that were not only opposed by Republicans, but by many Democrats as well. and forget polls about specific provisions, overall opinion on these bills was negative. Why should Republicans stick their necks out supporting bills like that? To save Democrats, give them cover? No. Let the Democrats own the ACA and cap and trade(which didn’t actually pass) and the stimulus.
So what exactly are you saying the Democrats should have done? Not passed anything at all?
Definitely not. There are many things they were elected to do. Reforming health care was one of those things. However, the very first rule of health care reform was that people like what they have. Problem is, you can’t get a comprehensive solution without putting at risk what people currently have. So many within the party advised a more incremental approach. That would have been politically smarter and personally I think it would have been better policy as well.
The stimulus was one of those things where it either worked or it didn’t. If it worked, it would have been popular. Since it didn’t, it wasn’t. That being said, the Democrats should have done more to bring in moderate Republicans. By passing the most liberal bill they could, they owned it.
Cap and trade didn’t pass, but it was one of the big three bills that got them in trouble. It was a corrupt mess of special exemptions and overly complicated, and unlike with health care, some Republicans actually did have ideas on how to make it better. Bob Corker suggested a carbon tax instead of cap and trade. Democrats wanted no part of anything other than their own plan. It never came close to getting the votes needed in the Senate as a result.
It also didn’t help that Democrats did everything they could to make the minority powerless. Pelosi kept on bringing up bills under special rules, Harry Reid kept on filling the amendment tree. They gave the GOP a pretext for being uncooperative. It’s harder to convince the public that you’re the victim when you start the session off by changing rules to make it harder for the minority to have a voice. Why should the minority then cooperate?
They did go with a more incremental approach. They still couldn’t get any Republican votes. The Republicans considered it their duty to oppose it no matter what it contained.
How was that “the most liberal bill they could”? Many economists were calling for a much larger stimulus. Previously, stimulus in general was not considered a liberal or conservative thing, it had bipartisan support and was not controversial.
If the Democrats had tried to take Corker’s suggestion, he would have immediately disavowed his words and the GOP would have stayed in lock step against it.
They sure didn’t make it harder in the Senate. It’s easier than ever to filibuster. It hasn’t always been that 60 votes were needed to pass anything.
Enough with arguing on Regressives’ terms; stop trying to justify a premise that’s utterly false out of the gate.
Barack Obama and the primarily Democratic 111th Congress were the most productive and successful Congress in over 40 years, passing more legislation (and substantive, at that) than any Congress since the 1960s. And Obama assumed office under worse conditions than any president since Harry Truman in 1945, who was sworn in on the heels of the Great Depression and still mired in WWII.
Given that this president had to deal with a global economic meltdown that many countries are still suffering from; the imminent collapse of multiple major U.S. industries; the bleeding of millions of jobs; 2 ongoing wars; uprisings and protests in Iran, Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Bahrain and Libya; several massive international environmental disasters, including the massive earthquake in Haiti and the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear catastrophe in Japan; catastrophic disasters at home as hurricanes and floods literally took out entire towns all over the South and Mid-West from Alabama to Joplin, MO; several terrorist attack attempts here in the U.S.; not to mention the bitter fight the Republicans have waged against him every step of the way, it’s amazing that anything got done in this country, let alone the sheer magnitude of what was accomplished.
Just because you don’t remember it, didn’t know about it, or only listen to Fox, doesn’t mean a massive buttload of stuff didn’t get done. The 111th Congress passed, and the president signed, nearly 400 pieces of legislation, he signed numerous treaties, and took Executive action on several occasions when it became necessary. Here’s just a partial list:
[ol]
[li]January 29, 2009: Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act[/li][li] February 4, 2009: Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act[/li][li] February 17, 2009: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act[/li][li] March 30, 2009: Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009[/li][li] April 21, 2009: Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act[/li][li] May 20, 2009: Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act[/li][li] May 20, 2009: Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009[/li][li] May 22, 2009: Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act of 2009[/li][li] May 22, 2009: Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2009[/li][li] June 22, 2009: Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act[/li][li] June 30, 2009: Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2009[/li][li] August 6, 2009: Cash For Clunkers Extension Act[/li][li] October 19, 2009: Foreign Evidence Request Efficiency Act of 2009[/li][li] October 22, 2009: Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act[/li][li] October 28, 2009: Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act[/li][li] October 30, 2009: Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act[/li][li] November 6, 2009: Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009[/li][li] November 11, 2009: Military Spouses Residency Relief Act[/li][li] December 15, 2009: No Social Security Benefits for Prisoners Act of 2009[/li][li] December 22, 2009: Human Rights Enforcement Act of 2009[/li][li] January 27, 2010: Emergency Aid to American Survivors of Haiti Earthquake Act[/li][li] February 16, 2010: Nuclear Forensics and Attribution Act[/li][li] February 27, 2010: Social Security Disability Applicants’ Access to Professional Representation Act of 2010[/li][li] March 4, 2010: Travel Promotion Act[/li][li] March 18, 2010: Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (HIRE Act)[/li][li] March 18, 2010: Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2009 (Division B) Reestablished “pay-as-you-go”[/li][li] March 23, 2010: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act[/li][li] March 30, 2010: Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010[/li][li] March 31, 2010: Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act of 2009[/li][li] April 7, 2010 Prevent Deceptive Census Look Alike Mailings Act[/li][li] May 5, 2010: Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010[/li][li] May 17, 2010: Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act[/li][li] May 24, 2010: Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009[/li][li] May 27, 2010: Federal Judiciary Administrative Improvements Act of 2010[/li][li] June 9, 2010: Special Agent Samuel Hicks Families of Fallen Heroes Act[/li][li] June 25, 2010: Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010[/li][li] July 1, 2010: Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010[/li][li] July 2, 2010: Homebuyer Assistance and Improvement Act of 2010[/li][li] July 7, 2010: Formaldehyde Standards for Composite Wood Products Act[/li][li] July 21, 2010: Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act[/li][li] July 22, 2010: Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010[/li][li] July 27, 2010: Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2010[/li][li] August 3, 2010: Fair Sentencing Act of 2010[/li][li] August 10, 2010: SPEECH Act of 2010[/li][li] August 10, 2010: Cell Phone Contraband Act of 2010[/li][li] August 11, 2010: United States Manufacturing Enhancement Act of 2010[/li][li] September 27, 2010: Mandatory Price Reporting Act of 2010[/li][li] September 27, 2010: Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010[/li][li] September 30, 2010: First Responder Anti-Terrorism Training Resources Act[/li][li] September 30, 2010: Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2010[/li][li] October 7, 2010: Reducing Over-Classification Act[/li][li] October 7, 2010: Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010[/li][li] October 8, 2010: Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Reauthorization Act of 2010[/li][li] October 7, 2010: Security Cooperation Act of 2010[/li][li] October 12, 2010: Redundancy Elimination and Enhanced Performance for Preparedness Grants Act[/li][li] October 12, 2010: Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act Improvements Act of 2010[/li][li] October 12, 2010: Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010[/li][li] October 13, 2010: Plain Writing Act of 2010[/li][li] October 13, 2010: Veterans’ Benefits Act of 2010[/li][li] October 15, 2010: United States Secret Service Uniformed Division Modernization Act of 2010[/li][li] October 30, 2010: International Adoption Simplification Act[/li][li] December 9, 2010: Telework Enhancement Act of 2010[/li][li] December 9, 2010: Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act of 2010[/li][li] December 13, 2010: Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010[/li][li] December 14, 2010: Asian Carp Prevention and Control Act[/li][li] December 17, 2010: Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010[/li][li] December 18, 2010: Truth in Fur Labeling Act of 2010[/li][li] December 18, 2010: Social Security Number Protection Act of 2010[/li][li] December 20, 2010: CAPTA Reauthorization Act of 2010[/li][li] December 22, 2010: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010[/li][li] December 22, 2010: Regulated Investment Company Modernization Act of 2010[/li][li] December 22, 2010: Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009[/li][li] December 22, 2010: FOR VETS Act of 2010[/li][li] December 22, 2010: Preserving Foreign Criminal Assets for Forfeiture Act of 2010[/li][li] December 29, 2010: Omnibus Trade Act of 2010[/li][li] December 29, 2010 Helping Heroes Keep Their Homes Act of 2010[/li][li] January 4, 2011: Predisaster Hazard Mitigation Act of 2010[/li][li] January 4, 2011: GPRA Modernization Act of 2010[/li][li] January 4, 2011: FDA Food Safety Modernization Act[/li][li] January 4, 2011: America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010[/li][li] January 4, 2011: Diesel Emissions Reduction Act of 2010[/li][li] January 4, 2011: Supportive Housing for the Elderly Act of 2010[/li][li] January 4, 2011 :Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2010[/li][li] January 4, 2011: Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act of 2010[/li][li] January 4, 2011: Anti-Border Corruption Act of 2010[/li][li] January 4, 2011: Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Improvements Act of 2010[/li][li] January 4, 2011: Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act[/li][li] September 29, 2010: Treaty with the United Kingdom Concerning Defense Trade Cooperation[/li][li] September 29, 2010: Treaty with Australia Concerning Defense Trade Cooperation[/li][li] September 29, 2010: Hague Convention on International Recovery of Child Support and Family Maintenance[/li][li] December 22, 2010: New START[/li][li] February 23, 2011: Obama declared the Defense of Marriage act unconstitutional and will no longer be defending the cases in the 1st and 2nd circuits.[/li][/ol]
Compare that in both scope and import, to what the Republicans accomplished over a period of six years of control of both houses and the Presidency under Bush, and what they’ve done (or not done) since regaining control of the House of Representatives in 2010. There simply is no comparison.
Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress successfully turned an unmitigated disaster into recovery and growth. And while growth has been slow, especially since 2010 marked the beginning of the worst House Leadership in modern history where little more than naming court houses and post offices, anti-women’s rights bills, and faux do-nothing repeal votes against health care reform have taken place, there has been growth.
And let’s not forget the utter debacle when the irresponsible Republicans took up months of Congress’s time and resources not only threatening to shut down our entire government over a routine part of doing business, but succeeded in destroying our once-pristine credit rating.
[ul]
[li]Women are better off because of President Obama’s polices for fair pay and fair health care treatment.[/li][li]The private sector regained and exceeded all the Bush/Republican jobs lost during the worst economic nightmare in decades.[/li][li]Families are better off with even lower tax rates than when Bush was in office.[/li][li]The military no longer discriminates against gay and lesbian citizens who serve or want to serve our country.[/li][li]Every American now has better access and more affordable health care, including the elderly on Medicare who now get annual wellness visits with no co-pay. [/li][li]Combat troops have come home from Iraq.[/li][li]Osama bin Laden and more than a dozen of his “top dogs” are dead, making us safer now than we ever were under Bush’s mere bluster.[/li][/ul]
In every measurable way President Obama has been a rousing success in office and we would be fools not to re-elect him, which I’m confident we’ll do.
As did the Blue Dogs in the House, but they weren’t needed. In the Senate, the Blue Dogs were bought. That sure didn’t look good either. The democrats could have done something simpler: write a bill that Blue Dogs could support.
The amount of spending was controversial, including what it was spent on. Again, they could have gotten a few Republican votes. Or they could have at least pleased the moderates in their own caucus. Instead, they lost 7 Democrats and failed to get a single GOP vote. Failing to get GOP votes is forgiveable. Failing to win over their moderates less so.
They left the filibuster as the only GOP option. They couldn’t amend bills, Reid disallowed that. take away the amendment option and filibuster is all that’s left.
As for your list, you need to make up your mind what the talking point is: Is Obama unsuccessful because of Republican obstruction, or is he in fact successful because of the legislation he’s signed? If it’s the latter, then the public should judge him on that legislation.
The unemployment rate has been over 8% since Feb 2009 and the national debt has skyrocketed to over 100% of GDP.
This president is clearly a failure.
I wouldn’t go so far as to call him a failure, so much as a man who ran painting a picture of himself that was a complete fabrication. He posed as an agent of change, but he was in fact the ultimate insider, the ultimate cynical politician. He opportunistically attacked both his Democratic opponents and John McCain as representing the old politics of spin, negativity, division, when in fact he was much more of a representation of those politics than any of his opponents.
But all that could have been forgiven had he governed well. At best he gets a C+. Good on foreign policy, has done his best to deal with a very difficult economic situation. But even that half-decent performance is colored by his unwillingness to take responsibility for his performance, his lack of any intention to change Washington, and his constant excuse-making. It’s always someone else’s fault. During the campaign it was his staff, as President it’s been Republicans and his predecessor.
But as Shayna has pointed out, he has gotten a LOT of legislation passed. The public judged that legislation in 2010 and they’ll render another decision in 2012.
Nitpick: 2007 on.
So: what did the Dems block in 2007-08 that would have made much of a difference?
This is because you can’t distinguish between the Dems’ filibustering selected legislation, and the GOP’s filibustering practically everything as a matter of course. Neither can you distinguish between the Dems’ filibustering 10 Bush nominees out of over 200 to lower courts, and the GOP’s filibustering several dozen of Obama’s lower court nominees.
You have described yourself very well.
Well, that and compromise. But like tax increases, conservatives like to pretend that is not an option.
Gee, maybe if the *House *were responsible for the budget instead of the President …