I remember in very early 2008 so forgive me for the details. I'm pretty sure the topic was the stimulus and there was a Republican with colleagues around him interviewed he was expressing frustration over Democrat house members unwillingness to hear him out or something along those lines. The thing I do remember is when the topic came to Obama he had nothing but praise in his interest, listened to what he had say, and seemed genuine interested in solving the issue.
I haven't seen how a policy discussion ends up going but how can he not just be so incredibly frustrated!! The patience is remarkable and what is it that is so inflammatory about him?
He says good things about McConnell and whiskey and here he is still offering to work with him, using logic that is far to both on each side of the negotiation.
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Obama understands how the middle class is hurt by tax cuts so he came up with a very fair proposal and the way it was treated was very disrespectful and dishonest.
Obama offers new 'grand bargain' to GOP ahead of budget fights
President Barack Obama challenged Republicans on Tuesday to help him craft a “grand bargain” for the middle class, unveiling a corporate tax reform proposal intended to put the GOP on the spot ahead of the budget battles he faces with Congress this fall by trying to rally public opinion using the presidential bully pulpit.
In his latest push to frame those battles, Obama called for closing loopholes and certain deductions for big business in exchange for lowering rates. And he proposed using new revenue from the tax reforms for increased spending on infrastructure and transportation projects.
“Here’s the bottom line: I’m willing to work with Republicans on reforming our corporate tax code, as long as we use the money from transitioning to a simpler tax system for a significant investment in creating middle-class jobs,” he said Tuesday in Chattanooga, Tenn. “That’s the deal.”
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Very straightforward. Spending on infrastructure and transportation would lead to jobs in infrastructure and transportation. It really dumbfounds me when people say government can't create jobs, legislation has impact on jobs appearing & disappearing all-the-time.
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The new gambit comes in advance of a showdown this fall with Republicans over extending government spending and raising the nation’s debt limit. Following three speeches last week stressing the importance of spending on projects to boost the middle class, Obama made his new offer Tuesday -- one met with skepticism by GOP leaders even before the address had been delivered.
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The allure of corporate tax cuts was ostensibly intended as an inducement to win over the GOP to support some broader agreement, but Republican leaders quickly rejected Obama’s proposal out of hand. They said that they were given no heads-up about the offer, and that the president’s latest offer was little more than a negotiating ploy. Republican leaders further insisted that corporate tax reform be coupled with individual tax reform, since many small-business owners file taxes under that structure.
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I lost my mind when I read. I don't know the unwritten rules in Washington but how does rejecting an offer make any sense on grounds you didn't have advance knowledge of an offer. OMG!!! What is the big deal? Look it over then decide over it
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“I’m willing to simplify our tax code” in a way that closes loopholes, ends incentives to ship jobs overseas, and lowers rates for businesses that create jobs in America, he said.
“But if we’re going to give businesses a better deal, then we’re also going to have to give workers a better deal, toohe added, explaining that the new money from corporate tax reform could be used for infrastructure spending, or boost high-tech manufacturing hubs, or help grow the community college system. “All of these things would benefit the middle class right now and in the years to come.”
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/other/obama-offers-new-grand-bargain-gop-ahead-budget-fights-f6C10798853
I can't believe it was described as "tax and spend goodies" when it was basically a deal for closed loopholes, certain deductions in exchange for lower taxes with to use the revenue directly on things that help create jobs and opportunity for the middle class.
I had big problems with policies Obama enacted but you can't say he didn't care about people or even if he did, he certainly fought for policies based on obvious logic. This is the most angry I've been in awhile.
Now these lying, dishonest assholes are probably plotting impeachment as Obama.
Obama's Learned the Lesson: Negotiating With the GOP Is a Dead End
The framing of this question may well reveal more about the state of American politics and media commentary on dysfunctional government than the responses. The implicit assumption is that President Obama's personal relationships with individual Republicans (or the presumed lack thereof) and his supposed reticence in tabling bold proposals for resolving the nation's fiscal problems is a (if not the) major reason so little progress has been made in reaching a bipartisan consensus. I believe that assumption is greatly at odds with reality and distracts readers from the core governing problems confronting the country today.
Presidential leadership is contextual—shaped by our unique constitutional arrangements and the electoral, partisan, and institutional constraints that flow from them. Under present conditions of deep ideological polarization of the parties, rough parity between the parties that fuels a strategic hyperpartisanship, and divided party government, opportunities for cross-party coalitions on controversial policies are severely limited. Constraints on presidential leadership today are exacerbated by the relentlessly oppositional stand taken by the Republicans since Obama's election, their continuing embrace of Grover Norquist's "no new tax" pledge, and their willingness since gaining the House majority in 2011 to use a series of manufactured crises to impose their policy preferences on the Democrats with whom they share power.
[Check out our editorial cartoons on President Obama.]
Ironically, Obama tried harder and longer than the results merited to work cooperatively with Republicans in Congress. He has learned painfully that his public embrace of a policy virtually ensures Republican opposition and that intensive negotiations with Republican leaders are likely to lead to a dead end. No bourbon and branch-water laced meetings with Republicans in Congress or pre-emptive compromises with them will induce cooperative behavior.
Obama has now set out on the right course in his dealings with Republicans in Congress. No naiveté about the opposition he faces but a determination to make some cooperation in the electoral interests of enough Republicans to break the "taxes are off the table" logjam and move forward with an economic agenda that makes sense to most nonpartisan analysts and most Americans
http://www.usnews.com/debate-club/has-obama-exercised-enough-leadership-in-dealing-with-republicans-in-congress/obamas-learned-the-lesson-negotiating-with-the-gop-is-a-dead-end
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