Once again, Obama blames Republicans for his failures
Like Nick, I did not catch all of President Obama’s appearance at the Univsion Town Hall yesterday, caught only snippets while doing my cardio, but did not how quick he was to blame Republicans for his failures.
When moderator Jorge Ramos asked the president about his failure to keep his promise to have an immigration bill in his first year, the president blathered on a bit before blaming Republicans:
And what I confess I did not expect — and so I’m happy to take responsibility for being naive here — is that Republicans who had previously supported comprehensive immigration reform — my opponent in 2008, who had been a champion of it and who attended these meetings — suddenly would walk away. That’s what I did not anticipate.
And as you know, Jorge, even though we controlled the House of Representatives, even though we had a majority in the Senate, the way the Senate operates was if you couldn’t get 60 votes you couldn’t get something moving. So we initiated the meetings, had a series of meetings. And what we could not get was a single Republican, including the 20 who had previously voted for comprehensive immigration reform, to step up and say, we will work with you to make this happen
(Unlike most reporters interviewing the president, Ramos followed up, ” It was a promise, Mr. President. . . . You promised that. And a promise is a promise. And with all due respect, you didn’t keep that promise.” And this isn’t the only promise he hasn’t kept.)
Note how Obama only takes responsibility for being naive as if that excuses him from keeping his promise. He devotes the better part of his answer to blaming Republicans.
So, he had a series of “meetings”, but did he try to reach out personally to any of those Republicans (who had once voted for comprehensive immigration reform)? Since his party in the Senate, controlled 58, then 59 seats for the first six months of the session, later 60 seats for another six months, he only needed one or two Republican votes to break a filibuster.
Instead of working with Republicans in impersonal meetings, why then didn’t he focus on the three or four Republicans most likely to bend and reach out to them, you know, invite them up to the White House one at a time and press them on the issue? Or have them join him for a round of golf.
As we learned via Bob Woodward’s new book, The Price of Politics, that’s not Obama’s way.
Obama did promise to change Washington and that, through his supposedly first-class temperament, he could bridge the partisan divide and bring people together and he failed. And instead of acknowledging his failures, he takes responsibility for being naive, but not for failing to deliver on that promise.
We now have another report this week detailing Obama’s failures in office. And this one actually seems to be getting some attention in the legacy media. What began as a bad week for Mitt Romney is ending as a bad one for Barack Obama.
(And I haven’t even mentioned that even CNN is noting the contradiction between Obama administration officials’ statements on the embassy attacks in Libya and the latest reports indicating that they were indeed planed in advance.)
ADDENDUM: Just a reminder: ”On March 19, 2009, after spending fewer than two full months in the White House, President Obama told Jay Leno that ‘one of the things’ he was ‘trying to break is a pattern in Washington where everybody is always looking for somebody else to blame.‘”
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Obama never made a serious attempt at immigration reform because he knew he didn’t need to. As with black voters, he knew the majority of hispanic voters would vote for him again, regardless of whether he actually addressed any of their concerns or not.
Obama also knew that he would have a tough time getting all the Democrats to support an amnesty bill. Amnesty is still opposed by the majority of American voters, and Democratic legislators are well aware of that fact.
Comment by Observer — September 21, 2012 @ 7:52 am - September 21, 2012
The important thing overlooked is:
That Obama — in his 1/3 term as a US Senator — put in a poison pill to the negotiations for immigration reform during Bush’s last 2 years. He poisoned the work reqs and even Democrat Senators were forced to vote against the bill. So, HE bears responsibility back to 2007. And not in a good way.
Comment by john b — September 21, 2012 @ 9:29 am - September 21, 2012
Obama really believed that Bush ruled by fiat and expected he could get whatever he wanted done without compromise and without support or input from any Republican. His belief that he is the smartest in every room doesn’t allow anyone else to impact his belief system and therefore he is incapable of working with any but total left ideologues. That is what caused the TEAnami election in 2010. And since he believes he is the smartest, most capable person in every room, then if his policies fail, ergo it must be the fault of SOMEONE ELSE! Sometimes it is merely that he didn’t tell the story well enough for us lowly bible toting, gun holding, typical white people to comprehend. Or that evil Bush made the Great Recession. Or filmakers caused his ME policy to fail. And Dodd Frank and Obamacare have nothing to do with the paralyzed, frankly terrified state of small and large business around this country.
Romney is going to be the luckiest President in history. On day one, open ANWR, Okay the Keystone pipeline, sign the repeal of Obamacare. Fast track leases on federal lands increases federal revenues. Shut down all green energy boondoggles and get the federal government and our military the H€LL out of “investing” in
expensive green energy. Start with these few ideas and then slashing fat out of our budget. Start with 2006 baseline.
Our economy will roar.
Comment by TexasMom2012 — September 21, 2012 @ 9:40 am - September 21, 2012
Obama threw Latinos under the bus right after the media parade. Who else got the parade, and got shoved off the cliff? He reminds me of a ring master at a circus, flipping the spotlight from ring to ring, hoping to only catch the GOOD performances in the light. That light has been in strobe mode for the past 3 years.
Comment by 5 * Mom — September 21, 2012 @ 9:45 am - September 21, 2012
The Democrats told Barack Obama to make a choice between ObamaTax, Card Check, or Amnesty; he chose ObamaTax. Obama was surprised he got resistance from WE THE People & it took the better part of 2 years to pass into law. As a result, Obama wasted his capital, poisoned the well, & became a radioactive turd himself.
Obama really believed the Democrats could also pass Amnesty & Card Check later, but then the 2010 midterms flushed out the Democrats with staggering losses. Likewise, the Senate lost their Democrat super-majority.
Obama doesn’t have the answer since he wasn’t involved. ObamaTax was Nancy Pelosi’s baby.
Comment by Sebastian Shaw — September 21, 2012 @ 9:56 am - September 21, 2012
Card Check could also not be passed into law, despite the Democrats super-majorities in the House & Senate; they knew the people didn’t want it after many had already taken the fall for ObamaTax.
Comment by Sebastian Shaw — September 21, 2012 @ 9:58 am - September 21, 2012
Obama really believed that Bush ruled by fiat and expected he could get whatever he wanted done without compromise and without support or input from any Republican.
I also think he expected all the democrats in congress to hand him what he wanted as well.
I think Obama has proven himself an ineffective leader. He can’t lead his own troops, and he doesn’t really think he needs to work with the opposition.
What amazes me is just how many people still support him and intend to vote for him. Do they really think he deserves 4 more years?
Comment by Just Me — September 21, 2012 @ 10:49 am - September 21, 2012
Just Me wrote: What amazes me is just how many people still support him and intend to vote for him. Do they really think he deserves 4 more years?
You and me both. It is so glaringly obvious that he is terribly ineffective as a leader, and yet the press keeps covering for him. This morning I was listening to NPR and watching ABC news for a little while, and what was noteworthy was how his statement that he “can’t change Washington from inside” was presented sympathetically and not as the admission of failure that it truly is.
Furthermore, Obama’s “example” of change coming from “outside pressures” in that answer was the healthcare law, a blatant lie if there was ever one. The public at large was certainly not lobbying for a bill that no one had ever seen. Harry Reid used every legislative trick in the book including holding votes at midnight on Christmas eve to try to get that piece of junk legislation passed. And after they lost the Massachusetts Senate seat, the Democrats used another big trick–the reconciliation process–to get the bill passed. I can’t recall any other pieces of significant legislation rammed through Congress in a less transparent and more dishonest fashion. No, as Pelosi said, they passed the bill “so we could find out what’s in it.”
Comment by Kurt — September 21, 2012 @ 11:46 am - September 21, 2012
I like that optimism, TexasMom2012. DO NOT BELIEVE the polls…they’re TOTALLY skewed. I’ve seen some that were D+13. What does that tell you?
Comment by Bastiat Fan — September 21, 2012 @ 12:33 pm - September 21, 2012
Republican, the Senate, the window washers at the Capitol, are all to blame. Barak Obama, like Pontius Pilate sat in front of Jorge Ramos and claimed innocency for the lack of Immigration reform. He had a majority for two years, but he was more interested in the stimulus and Obamacare. Despite his shameful performance at Univision, he will still get the majority of the Latino vote. Republicans are fooling themselves, in thinking that family values will convert them. Within the hispanic community, the majority of those who are mexican immigrants or first generation U.S. have their political roots in PRI, which is socialist, (the torilla subsidy, socialized medicine, and oil giant PEMEX is government owned). Vicente Fox received stiff oppostion for wanting to privatize it. Most Mexican Americans will vote for Obama. Communist sympatizers from El Salvador and Nicaragua who migrated thinking their side would lose the civil wars in their countries will vote for Obama. Also, some right wingers will vote for Obama and Democrats based on some hard line Republicans who want to deport the illegals. The rhetoric is almost as upsetting to them as any negative comments about Mohammed is to a muslim. The seem to forget, as do their elected officials who beg the POTUS not to deport, that they deport illegals also.
Comment by Roberto — September 21, 2012 @ 5:06 pm - September 21, 2012