http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/25/us/politics/25agenda.html?_r=1&nl=us&emc=politicsemailema4
All,
If, as this article clearly suggests he "should", all this President winds up doing in wake of the upcoming midterm elections is politically kissing the asses of such criminally rightwing reprobates, reactionaries, and demagogues as the Republican leadership in the House and the Senate over the next two years then everything Obama currently allegedly stands for will be completely destroyed (and surely not worth fighting for). In that case the very idea of national liberal/progressive "reform" will not only be nothing but a big sick, ugly joke but only we, the People will be the victims of such a massive capitulation. Either the President, the Democratic Party, and the general left in this country will now stand up to and thoroughly fight the congressional and independent right with all it has to offer or everything we "said" we stood for and would continue to fight for in electing this President in the first place will be completely lost and rendered worthless...for real...
Kofi
October 24, 2010
Obama’s Playbook After Nov. 2
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
New York Times
WASHINGTON — It took President Obama 18 months to invite the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, to the White House for a one-on-one chat. Their Aug. 4 session in the Oval Office — 30 minutes of private time, interrupted only when the president’s daughter Malia called from summer camp to wish her father a happy 49th birthday — was remarkable, not for what was said, but for what it took to make it happen.
Not long before the meeting, Trent Lott, the former Republican Senate leader, lamented to his onetime Democratic counterpart, Tom Daschle, that Mr. Obama would never get an important nuclear arms treaty with Russia ratified until he consulted top Republicans. Mr. Lott, who recounted the exchange in an interview, was counting on Mr. Daschle, a close Obama ally, to convey the message; lo and behold, Mr. McConnell soon had an audience with the president.
The White House says the meeting was about stalled judicial nominations, not arms control. But the fact that a former Senate leader found it necessary to work back channels to put Mr. Obama and Mr. McConnell in touch suggests the difficult road the president will face if Republicans win control of one or both houses of Congress on Election Day.
Before Mr. Obama and Republicans can secure each other’s cooperation, people in both parties say, they must first figure out a way to secure mutual trust.
After two years of operating at loggerheads with Republicans, Mr. Obama and his aides are planning a post-election agenda for a very different political climate. They see potential for bipartisan cooperation on reducing the deficit, passing stalled free-trade pacts and revamping the education bill known as No Child Left Behind — work that Arne Duncan, Mr. Obama’s education secretary, says could go a long way toward repairing “the current state of anger and animosity.”
“I’m a big believer in less of singing ‘Kumbaya’ together and going on retreats than in rolling up our sleeves and doing work together,” Mr. Duncan said in an interview. “That’s how you build respect, that’s how you build trust, that’s how you build relationships. I think it’s a way to move beyond some hurt feelings on both sides. Do it through the work.”
Mr. Obama came to office vowing to reach across the aisle and change the tone in Washington, a goal he quickly abandoned when Republicans stood in lockstep against his stimulus bill. Today, with each side blaming the other for their sorry state of relations, neither has “clean hands,” said Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia.
Yet even Democrats say that, as president, Mr. Obama has a special obligation to try to put an end to the vitriol — and that the future of his presidency may depend on it.
“Probably the biggest single promissory note he handed out during his campaign was the promise of trying to overcome Red America and Blue America into one America,” said Bill Galston, who worked as a domestic policy adviser to former President Bill Clinton. “I think the perception is that he didn’t work as hard as he could have to redeem that note, and I can’t believe that he wants to go down in history as the president who promised to overcome polarization and ended up intensifying it.”
Mr. Obama said during his State of the Union address that he wanted to hold “monthly meetings with both Republican and Democratic leadership.” He has not entirely lived up to that promise; there have been five such sessions, including his televised health care summit, in the nine months since. Dan Pfeiffer, Mr. Obama’s communications director, said the president had “repeatedly extended his hand” to Republicans, who “made a political decision” to oppose him at every turn.
“That was their choice,” Mr. Pfeiffer said. “Hopefully, they will make a different one after the election.”
Publicly, senior advisers to Mr. Obama insist they are focused on keeping Democrats in the majority, and they will not detail their post-election strategy — either for legislation or mending fences. But privately, allies of the White House say Mr. Obama’s new chief of staff, Pete Rouse, who had good relations with Republicans when he worked on Capitol Hill, is thinking about how Mr. Obama might reach out.
Much will depend on what happens Nov. 2, and some things will be beyond Mr. Obama’s control. If Tea Party candidates — who have spent the entire election season demonizing Mr. Obama — win big, Republican leaders who might be inclined to work with the president might have a difficult time persuading their members to do so. If Republicans take the House and Democrats keep the Senate, it could be difficult for Mr. Obama to bring the chambers together.
One question is what public posture Mr. Obama will take. If Democrats get trounced, will he emerge, sounding contrite, and take responsibility for their losses? Or will he insist the results were not a reflection on him? Will he follow the path of Mr. Clinton, who pursued a so-called triangulation strategy of moving to the center after Republicans gained control of Congress in 1994?
“If he did turn to the center, as Bill Clinton did, I think there would be a lot of hope, but right now nobody knows what he is going to do,” said Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah. Mr. Hatch says the strategy was likely to have saved the Clinton presidency. “Bill Clinton wouldn’t have been elected the second time had he not awakened and started to work with both sides.”
Unlike Mr. Clinton, Mr. Obama is not much of a schmoozer, and some Republicans say he might benefit from becoming more of one. Senator Mike Johanns, Republican of Nebraska, said Mr. Obama has telephoned him just once, after he had lung surgery. “He needs to build friendships and he needs to build trust,” Mr. Johanns said.
Although Mr. Obama has hosted cocktail hours and parties at the White House for members of Congress, he is not the type to spend his free time socializing with lawmakers. While personal relationships cannot erase philosophical differences, they can help, which is one reason Mr. Lott, the former Republican leader, pushed privately for Mr. McConnell and Mr. Obama to meet.
“You know, Clinton, we used to talk to each other all the time, through back channels, middle of the day, middle of the night,” Mr. Lott said. “He’d call at 11 o’clock, 2 o’clock at night; I’d go up to the family quarters and have coffee with him at 9:15 in the morning. They’ve got to open up communications — and not for press purposes. They’ve got to talk quietly, privately. That’s Step 1 in Washington.”
All,
If, as this article clearly suggests he "should", all this President winds up doing in wake of the upcoming midterm elections is politically kissing the asses of such criminally rightwing reprobates, reactionaries, and demagogues as the Republican leadership in the House and the Senate over the next two years then everything Obama currently allegedly stands for will be completely destroyed (and surely not worth fighting for). In that case the very idea of national liberal/progressive "reform" will not only be nothing but a big sick, ugly joke but only we, the People will be the victims of such a massive capitulation. Either the President, the Democratic Party, and the general left in this country will now stand up to and thoroughly fight the congressional and independent right with all it has to offer or everything we "said" we stood for and would continue to fight for in electing this President in the first place will be completely lost and rendered worthless...for real...
Kofi
October 24, 2010
Obama’s Playbook After Nov. 2
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
New York Times
WASHINGTON — It took President Obama 18 months to invite the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, to the White House for a one-on-one chat. Their Aug. 4 session in the Oval Office — 30 minutes of private time, interrupted only when the president’s daughter Malia called from summer camp to wish her father a happy 49th birthday — was remarkable, not for what was said, but for what it took to make it happen.
Not long before the meeting, Trent Lott, the former Republican Senate leader, lamented to his onetime Democratic counterpart, Tom Daschle, that Mr. Obama would never get an important nuclear arms treaty with Russia ratified until he consulted top Republicans. Mr. Lott, who recounted the exchange in an interview, was counting on Mr. Daschle, a close Obama ally, to convey the message; lo and behold, Mr. McConnell soon had an audience with the president.
The White House says the meeting was about stalled judicial nominations, not arms control. But the fact that a former Senate leader found it necessary to work back channels to put Mr. Obama and Mr. McConnell in touch suggests the difficult road the president will face if Republicans win control of one or both houses of Congress on Election Day.
Before Mr. Obama and Republicans can secure each other’s cooperation, people in both parties say, they must first figure out a way to secure mutual trust.
After two years of operating at loggerheads with Republicans, Mr. Obama and his aides are planning a post-election agenda for a very different political climate. They see potential for bipartisan cooperation on reducing the deficit, passing stalled free-trade pacts and revamping the education bill known as No Child Left Behind — work that Arne Duncan, Mr. Obama’s education secretary, says could go a long way toward repairing “the current state of anger and animosity.”
“I’m a big believer in less of singing ‘Kumbaya’ together and going on retreats than in rolling up our sleeves and doing work together,” Mr. Duncan said in an interview. “That’s how you build respect, that’s how you build trust, that’s how you build relationships. I think it’s a way to move beyond some hurt feelings on both sides. Do it through the work.”
Mr. Obama came to office vowing to reach across the aisle and change the tone in Washington, a goal he quickly abandoned when Republicans stood in lockstep against his stimulus bill. Today, with each side blaming the other for their sorry state of relations, neither has “clean hands,” said Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia.
Yet even Democrats say that, as president, Mr. Obama has a special obligation to try to put an end to the vitriol — and that the future of his presidency may depend on it.
“Probably the biggest single promissory note he handed out during his campaign was the promise of trying to overcome Red America and Blue America into one America,” said Bill Galston, who worked as a domestic policy adviser to former President Bill Clinton. “I think the perception is that he didn’t work as hard as he could have to redeem that note, and I can’t believe that he wants to go down in history as the president who promised to overcome polarization and ended up intensifying it.”
Mr. Obama said during his State of the Union address that he wanted to hold “monthly meetings with both Republican and Democratic leadership.” He has not entirely lived up to that promise; there have been five such sessions, including his televised health care summit, in the nine months since. Dan Pfeiffer, Mr. Obama’s communications director, said the president had “repeatedly extended his hand” to Republicans, who “made a political decision” to oppose him at every turn.
“That was their choice,” Mr. Pfeiffer said. “Hopefully, they will make a different one after the election.”
Publicly, senior advisers to Mr. Obama insist they are focused on keeping Democrats in the majority, and they will not detail their post-election strategy — either for legislation or mending fences. But privately, allies of the White House say Mr. Obama’s new chief of staff, Pete Rouse, who had good relations with Republicans when he worked on Capitol Hill, is thinking about how Mr. Obama might reach out.
Much will depend on what happens Nov. 2, and some things will be beyond Mr. Obama’s control. If Tea Party candidates — who have spent the entire election season demonizing Mr. Obama — win big, Republican leaders who might be inclined to work with the president might have a difficult time persuading their members to do so. If Republicans take the House and Democrats keep the Senate, it could be difficult for Mr. Obama to bring the chambers together.
One question is what public posture Mr. Obama will take. If Democrats get trounced, will he emerge, sounding contrite, and take responsibility for their losses? Or will he insist the results were not a reflection on him? Will he follow the path of Mr. Clinton, who pursued a so-called triangulation strategy of moving to the center after Republicans gained control of Congress in 1994?
“If he did turn to the center, as Bill Clinton did, I think there would be a lot of hope, but right now nobody knows what he is going to do,” said Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah. Mr. Hatch says the strategy was likely to have saved the Clinton presidency. “Bill Clinton wouldn’t have been elected the second time had he not awakened and started to work with both sides.”
Unlike Mr. Clinton, Mr. Obama is not much of a schmoozer, and some Republicans say he might benefit from becoming more of one. Senator Mike Johanns, Republican of Nebraska, said Mr. Obama has telephoned him just once, after he had lung surgery. “He needs to build friendships and he needs to build trust,” Mr. Johanns said.
Although Mr. Obama has hosted cocktail hours and parties at the White House for members of Congress, he is not the type to spend his free time socializing with lawmakers. While personal relationships cannot erase philosophical differences, they can help, which is one reason Mr. Lott, the former Republican leader, pushed privately for Mr. McConnell and Mr. Obama to meet.
“You know, Clinton, we used to talk to each other all the time, through back channels, middle of the day, middle of the night,” Mr. Lott said. “He’d call at 11 o’clock, 2 o’clock at night; I’d go up to the family quarters and have coffee with him at 9:15 in the morning. They’ve got to open up communications — and not for press purposes. They’ve got to talk quietly, privately. That’s Step 1 in Washington.”
