# Robert Draper: GOP decided to oppose Obama in everything on Jan 20, 2009 **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 26, 2012, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-draper-gop-decided-to-oppose-obama-in-everything-on-jan-20-2009/619984 "2012-04-26T03:08:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-draper-gop-decided-to-oppose-obama-in-everything-on-jan-20-2009/619984/1 "2012-04-26T03:08:00Z")
In his revelatory new book, “Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives”, Robert Draper describes a meeting in which GOP leaders decide to oppose the new president in absolutely everything. Obama never had a honeymoon period with this group who never had any goodwill toward him and only wished him failure from the outset. > **[Robert Draper Book: GOP Leadership Plotted To Make Obama A One-Termer The...](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/robert-draper-anti-obama-campaign_n_1452899)** > > Robert Draper Book: GOP Leadership Plotted To Make Obama A One-Termer The Night Of His Inauguration > [@](#): > > Whether or not that’s shocking depends on the degree to which one’s view of politics has been jaded. What’s certainly noteworthy is the timing. When Mitch McConnell said in October 2010 that his party’s primary goal in the next Congress was to make Obama a one-term president, it was treated as remarkably candid and deeply cynical. Had he said it publicly in January 2009, it would likely have caused an uproar. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-draper-gop-decided-to-oppose-obama-in-everything-on-jan-20-2009/619984/2 "2012-04-26T12:40:55Z")
Unsurprisingly, I don’t find that shocking at all. ---
**Author:** ![Mekhazzio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b38774/32.png) [@Mekhazzio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mekhazzio)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-draper-gop-decided-to-oppose-obama-in-everything-on-jan-20-2009/619984/3 "2012-04-26T12:48:29Z")
I doubt there’s many people to whom this comes as news. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-draper-gop-decided-to-oppose-obama-in-everything-on-jan-20-2009/619984/4 "2012-04-26T12:48:55Z")
Speaking as an Obama-loving, left-leaning Democratic voter, and I don’t mean this snarkily at all: Who is Robert Draper and why should I care what he says? ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-draper-gop-decided-to-oppose-obama-in-everything-on-jan-20-2009/619984/5 "2012-04-26T14:33:22Z")
So what? Are you telling me you didn’t want a Democratic Congress to oppose everything GW Bush wanted to do? ---
**Author:** ![howye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9adbd/32.png) [@howye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/howye)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-draper-gop-decided-to-oppose-obama-in-everything-on-jan-20-2009/619984/6 "2012-04-26T14:40:32Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > So what? Are you telling me you didn’t want a Democratic Congress to oppose everything GW Bush wanted to do? ummm, Nope? You see that is the way things used to work. Some items were too partisan to ever pass. But some things could meet in the middle. This happened as recently as Bush’s second term. Since Obama has taken office though the Republican party has gone insane and it has been the Argument Sketch ever since. M: I came here for a good argument. A: No you didn’t; no, you came here for an argument. M: An argument isn’t just contradiction. A: It can be. M: No it can’t. An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition. A: No it isn’t. M: Yes it is! It’s not just contradiction. A: Look, if I argue with you, I must take up a contrary position. M: Yes, but that’s not just saying ‘No it isn’t.’ A: Yes it is! M: No it isn’t! ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-draper-gop-decided-to-oppose-obama-in-everything-on-jan-20-2009/619984/7 "2012-04-26T14:47:22Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > So what? Are you telling me you didn’t want a Democratic Congress to oppose everything GW Bush wanted to do? Actually, not. If Bush proposed something that was good for the country, then I would expect the Democrats to support it. What we’ve had for the past three years are the Republicans blocking everything that Obama proposes, even if he’s agreeing to what the Republicans wanted in the first place. Remember 2010- Republicans demand a deficit commisssion. Obama says “fine, let’s do it”. Republicans immediately say “YOU want it, too? Fuck you, we’ll filibuster it.” ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-draper-gop-decided-to-oppose-obama-in-everything-on-jan-20-2009/619984/8 "2012-04-26T15:45:12Z")
I don’t recall any Democrats opposing Bush’s bold initiative to ban animal-human hybrid research. Mostly, they just sort of stared at him, scratching their heads. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-draper-gop-decided-to-oppose-obama-in-everything-on-jan-20-2009/619984/9 "2012-04-26T16:00:01Z")
Not shocked nor surprised. The GOP’s record speaks for itself. > [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Speaking as an Obama-loving, left-leaning Democratic voter, and I don’t mean this snarkily at all: Who is Robert Draper and why should I care what he says? This. Is it a new revelation that the meeting happened? > [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > So what? Are you telling me you didn’t want a Democratic Congress to oppose everything GW Bush wanted to do? Yes, I am saying that. Mind you, I’d have preferred that they’d opposed a few more things than they actually did, like for example a certain war, but not everything regardless of its merits. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-draper-gop-decided-to-oppose-obama-in-everything-on-jan-20-2009/619984/10 "2012-04-26T16:35:05Z")
I can’t think of a single (known) instance where the Democratic Caucus had this kind of all-obstructionist attitude from day one towards a Republican POTUS. Not even Nixon, though he might well have imagined so. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-draper-gop-decided-to-oppose-obama-in-everything-on-jan-20-2009/619984/11 "2012-04-26T16:45:59Z")
Not your father’s Oldsmobile, not Barry G.'s Republican Party. Sooner or later, and we said this for years, the pact between the capitalist right and the Troglodyte right was going to break down. It did, and the Trogs took over. And, Lord God, what a mess. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-draper-gop-decided-to-oppose-obama-in-everything-on-jan-20-2009/619984/12 "2012-04-26T16:57:10Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > So what? Are you telling me you didn’t want a Democratic Congress to oppose everything GW Bush wanted to do? The Democrats can’t even get together to do what Obama wants to do, why would you suspect they can get together to oppose Bush? ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-draper-gop-decided-to-oppose-obama-in-everything-on-jan-20-2009/619984/13 "2012-04-26T17:22:57Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > So what? Are you telling me you didn’t want a Democratic Congress to oppose everything GW Bush wanted to do? I only wanted them to oppose things that (I felt) were bad for the country. I very much wanted them to support things that were good, or things that were an ok compromise. I disagreed with Pres. Bush on a lot of things, but I also think he had some good ideas. Do you really disagree? ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-draper-gop-decided-to-oppose-obama-in-everything-on-jan-20-2009/619984/14 "2012-04-26T18:03:07Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > So what? Are you telling me you didn’t want a Democratic Congress to oppose everything GW Bush wanted to do? Yes, that’s what I’m telling you. I didn’t oppose every thing Bush or the Republicans during his administration proposed or were for, but that’s me, and apparently quite a number of posters in this thread. Today’s GOP is knee-jerk against anything Obama wants, even if they originally wanted it themselves. I’m in my 50s and I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-draper-gop-decided-to-oppose-obama-in-everything-on-jan-20-2009/619984/15 "2012-04-26T18:05:41Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Speaking as an Obama-loving, left-leaning Democratic voter, and I don’t mean this snarkily at all: Who is Robert Draper and why should I care what he says? Mad Men’s Bobby Draper, all grown up? > **[Bobby Draper](https://madmen.fandom.com/wiki/Bobby_Draper)** > > Robert “Bobby” Draper is the middle child of Don Draper and Betty Hofstadt. Born in 1957, he is 3 years younger than Sally Draper. It is mentioned that he is 5 years old and that Sally is 8 in the Fall of 1962 while Don Draper is chatting with Anna... ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-draper-gop-decided-to-oppose-obama-in-everything-on-jan-20-2009/619984/16 "2012-04-26T18:19:14Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > So what? Are you telling me you didn’t want a Democratic Congress to oppose everything GW Bush wanted to do? And this is why knowing the kind of scum the democrats have to deal with will mean absolutely nothing in the long term. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-draper-gop-decided-to-oppose-obama-in-everything-on-jan-20-2009/619984/17 "2012-04-26T18:30:06Z")
I wish someone would ask Romney what he would do as President if Democrats in the Senate promised to filibuster absolutely every program or nominee he supported. Let’s see what a former CEO gets done under those conditions. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-draper-gop-decided-to-oppose-obama-in-everything-on-jan-20-2009/619984/18 "2012-04-26T18:53:53Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > I don’t recall any Democrats opposing Bush’s bold initiative to ban animal-human hybrid research. Mostly, they just sort of stared at him, scratching their heads. I don’t recall any Democratic opposition to Bush’s initiative to increase funding for AIDS prevention in Africa, either. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-draper-gop-decided-to-oppose-obama-in-everything-on-jan-20-2009/619984/19 "2012-04-26T19:35:12Z")
And I thought that he was right about the Dubai Ports World deal, too. At least, before he backtracked on it. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-draper-gop-decided-to-oppose-obama-in-everything-on-jan-20-2009/619984/20 "2012-04-26T20:41:30Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Not your father’s Oldsmobile, not Barry G.'s Republican Party. Sooner or later, and we said this for years, the pact between the capitalist right and the Troglodyte right was going to break down. It did, and the Trogs took over. And, Lord God, what a mess. But – considering the capitalist right and the troglodyte right first joined forces in 1964 – what a run they’ve had! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-draper-gop-decided-to-oppose-obama-in-everything-on-jan-20-2009/619984.md?page=2)