Did Obama ever try bipartisanship?

[independentusa]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...ory.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.6d013abd22e9
McConnell after the loss of the House last fall asked for Dems to be bipartisan for the good of the country. I wondered if Obama, who both Trump and the GOP seem to hate, ever tried to be bipartisan during the period of time that the Dems controlled the House and the Senate. What I found really amazed me. It seems that the major accomplishment of the Obama administration included GOP amendments as can be seen in the article above. In fact at least 160. I do remember that several times when the ACA was working itself through congress the GOP promised GOP votes if they just got this in or out of the bill. Even after getting the public option removed, the GOP never gave the ACA a single vote. Of course after taking over the Senate, McConnell said his aim was to make Obama a one term president and made sure the GOP just said no. So even though his party controlled both house of our legislature, Obama did try at least once for bipartisanship and got a negative response. Has the GOP done the same on any major bill since they have controlled the legislative and executive branch over the past two years?

 

[Winston]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...ory.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.6d013abd22e9
McConnell after the loss of the House last fall asked for Dems to be bipartisan for the good of the country. I wondered if Obama, who both Trump and the GOP seem to hate, ever tried to be bipartisan during the period of time that the Dems controlled the House and the Senate. What I found really amazed me. It seems that the major accomplishment of the Obama administration included GOP amendments as can be seen in the article above. In fact at least 160. I do remember that several times when the ACA was working itself through congress the GOP promised GOP votes if they just got this in or out of the bill. Even after getting the public option removed, the GOP never gave the ACA a single vote. Of course after taking over the Senate, McConnell said his aim was to make Obama a one term president and made sure the GOP just said no. So even though his party controlled both house of our legislature, Obama did try at least once for bipartisanship and got a negative response. Has the GOP done the same on any major bill since they have controlled the legislative and executive branch over the past two years?

Obama offered to cut Social Security and Medicare in what was called "The Grand Bargain" but, that fizzled.

 

[PeteEU]

Yes he did. But since the GOP said they would never work with him, then it was kinda mute.

Sent from my Honor 8X using Tapatalk

 

[ttwtt78640]

Yep, and cocaine too. I understand that he gave up on both.

 

[rocket88]

He did. He even stole the idea behind Obamacare from Romney. Mitt was for it before he was against it. Trump will be for it when it gets rebundled into Trumpcare and he can take credit for it.

 

[Tanngrisnir]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...ory.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.6d013abd22e9
McConnell after the loss of the House last fall asked for Dems to be bipartisan for the good of the country. I wondered if Obama, who both Trump and the GOP seem to hate, ever tried to be bipartisan during the period of time that the Dems controlled the House and the Senate. What I found really amazed me. It seems that the major accomplishment of the Obama administration included GOP amendments as can be seen in the article above. In fact at least 160. I do remember that several times when the ACA was working itself through congress the GOP promised GOP votes if they just got this in or out of the bill. Even after getting the public option removed, the GOP never gave the ACA a single vote. Of course after taking over the Senate, McConnell said his aim was to make Obama a one term president and made sure the GOP just said no. So even though his party controlled both house of our legislature, Obama did try at least once for bipartisanship and got a negative response. Has the GOP done the same on any major bill since they have controlled the legislative and executive branch over the past two years?

Yes, he did.

 

[OscarLevant]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...ory.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.6d013abd22e9
McConnell after the loss of the House last fall asked for Dems to be bipartisan for the good of the country. I wondered if Obama, who both Trump and the GOP seem to hate, ever tried to be bipartisan during the period of time that the Dems controlled the House and the Senate. What I found really amazed me. It seems that the major accomplishment of the Obama administration included GOP amendments as can be seen in the article above. In fact at least 160. I do remember that several times when the ACA was working itself through congress the GOP promised GOP votes if they just got this in or out of the bill. Even after getting the public option removed, the GOP never gave the ACA a single vote. Of course after taking over the Senate, McConnell said his aim was to make Obama a one term president and made sure the GOP just said no. So even though his party controlled both house of our legislature, Obama did try at least once for bipartisanship and got a negative response. Has the GOP done the same on any major bill since they have controlled the legislative and executive branch over the past two years?

Obama bent over backwards to get bipartisan deals, but the right blocked him. And yes, the right put many amendments to the ACA, but when it came time for vote, ALL of the repubs voted against, this is one example of many examples. Even Obama's choice of Merritt Garland, a centrist, was a compromise he thought the right would approve, but ion each and every time he tried to accommodate the right, they screwed him every time.

And now we have the GOP whining that the dems are obstructionists, but didn't seem to mind when they were the obstructionists.

Karma's a bitch.

If anyone on the right disapproves, I don't give a damn, Trump has pulled the covers on what the GOP is really about, which is climate change denial, and making the rich richer while making the poor poorer and denying health care to those who cannot afford it, because, as Ron Paul so ingloriously exclaimed, "(allowing the poor to suffer for not being able to afford health care) ...that's liberty".

No wonder the GOP is a shrinking party.

 

[Mycroft]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...ory.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.6d013abd22e9
McConnell after the loss of the House last fall asked for Dems to be bipartisan for the good of the country. I wondered if Obama, who both Trump and the GOP seem to hate, ever tried to be bipartisan during the period of time that the Dems controlled the House and the Senate. What I found really amazed me. It seems that the major accomplishment of the Obama administration included GOP amendments as can be seen in the article above. In fact at least 160. I do remember that several times when the ACA was working itself through congress the GOP promised GOP votes if they just got this in or out of the bill. Even after getting the public option removed, the GOP never gave the ACA a single vote. Of course after taking over the Senate, McConnell said his aim was to make Obama a one term president and made sure the GOP just said no. So even though his party controlled both house of our legislature, Obama did try at least once for bipartisanship and got a negative response. Has the GOP done the same on any major bill since they have controlled the legislative and executive branch over the past two years?

Your memory is faulty. The removal of the public option had nothing to do with the GOP.

Remember the public option? It was, for many Democrats, their absolute top priority during the health-care reform debate. But they didn't get it. A handful of conservative Democrats, led by Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, made clear that if there was a public option, they would filibuster the final bill. And so it died.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-to-the-public-option/?utm_term=.7519899b3ab9

 

[independentusa]

Your memory is faulty. The removal of the public option had nothing to do with the GOP.

Is that all you have, that some of the conservative Dems did not want it. The GOP said at the time that if it was still in the bill that none would vote for it, Did not help as none of the GOP would ever vote for it as they even then they were bought and paid for by the Health care insurance industry. You are right that the Dems removed it to make sure they would have enough votes to pass the ACA.

 

[Bullseye]

Obama offered to cut Social Security and Medicare in what was called "The Grand Bargain" but, that fizzled.

He did?
How exactly was he going to "cut" it? Wasn't one of his continuing rally points that GOP would "end Medicare/Social Security as we know them"?

 

[Bullseye]

Yes he did. But since the GOP said they would never work with him, then it was kinda mute.

Sent from my Honor 8X using Tapatalk

He did? Where? During his first meetings on healthcare he made it clear he has won the elections and elections "have consequences". Have any specific instances?

 

[Mycroft]

Is that all you have, that some of the conservative Dems did not want it. The GOP said at the time that if it was still in the bill that none would vote for it, Did not help as none of the GOP would ever vote for it as they even then they were bought and paid for by the Health care insurance industry. You are right that the Dems removed it to make sure they would have enough votes to pass the ACA.

The Dems needed those conservative Dems on board or Obamacare never would have passed. That's why the public option went bye-bye.

 

[Winston]

He did?
How exactly was he going to "cut" it? Wasn't one of his continuing rally points that GOP would "end Medicare/Social Security as we know them"?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_bargain_(United_States,_2011)

The Grand Bargain was an attempted political compromise between the Democratic and Republican Parties in the United States during the 2011 budget debates, in which the Democrats would have agreed to historic cuts in the federal government and the social safety net, in exchange for an increase in federal taxes.[1] However, due to the rise of the Tea Party, any increased taxes were unpalatable to the Republican base, while President Obama's base panicked over the possibility of cuts, causing the compromise to fail.[2][3][4]

Among centrist pundits, hopes for the Grand bargain lasted until the resignation of Speaker of the House John Boehner in 2015.

 

[Bullseye]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_bargain_(United_States,_2011)

LOL, sure, a real compromise there. :roll: All the GOP had to do was agree to federal tax hikes which they'd been arguing against forever. They probably remember Reagan agreeing to some tax hikes with the promise that spending cuts would follow - but never did.

 

[Winston]

LOL, sure, a real compromise there. :roll: All the GOP had to do was agree to federal tax hikes which they'd been arguing against forever. They probably remember Reagan agreeing to some tax hikes with the promise that spending cuts would follow - but never did.

I don't think you understand how compromising works. If both sides can't have their priorities then both sides have to give the other side something, in order to receive something. That's how bargaining works. That's how negotiation works.

Also: Reagan raised taxes 11 times, when revenue failed to match expectations from the free money giveaways. Do you mind pointing to which tax increase you see as a betrayal?

 

[Bullseye]

I don't think you understand how compromising works. If both sides can't have their priorities then both sides have to give the other side something, in order to receive something. That's how bargaining works. That's how negotiation works.

I understand EXACTLY how compromise works, and the "Grand Compromise" was no such thing. Just because the Dems CALLED it "The Grand Compromise" doesn't me it really was either grand or a compromise.

Also: Reagan raised taxes 11 times, when revenue failed to match expectations from the free money giveaways. Do you mind pointing to which tax increase you see as a betrayal?

LOL, ah, the old "eleven times" mantra. How many of those were tiny tariff adjustment or single purpose target taxes?

 

[Winston]

I understand EXACTLY how compromise works, and the "Grand Compromise" was no such thing. Just because the Dems CALLED it "The Grand Compromise" doesn't me it really was either grand or a compromise.

Not according to your posts in this thread you don't. both sides give something up, in order to receive something in a compromise. look at the grand bargain:

A Republican priority is to cut spending. A Democratic priority is to defend social safety nets. These are two contradictory priorities. What do you do when two sides both cannot have their way? You compromise. The Democrats allow the Republicans to cut spending in entitlements, if the Republicans agree to a tax increase. All to solve the common goal of deficit reduction and an agreement to fund the government. Did you have a good time in grade school arguing over how much time would be devoted to basketball and how much time would be devoted to soccer? or, did you just say everyone will be playing soccer all the time and anyone who wants to play basketball is being unfair? Christ.

LOL, ah, the old "eleven times" mantra. How many of those were tiny tariff adjustment or single purpose target taxes?

Well he had to raise taxes when his deficits were abnormally large. Just like Kansas did. because voodoo economics is a farce and an insult the intelligence of the American people.

 

[Bullseye]

Not according to your posts in this thread you don't. both sides give something up, in order to receive something in a compromise. look at the grand bargain:

A Republican priority is to cut spending. A Democratic priority is to defend social safety nets. These are two contradictory priorities. What do you do when two sides both cannot have their way? You compromise. The Democrats allow the Republicans to cut spending in entitlements, if the Republicans agree to a tax increase. All to solve the common goal of deficit reduction and an agreement to fund the government. Did you have a good time in grade school arguing over how much time would be devoted to basketball and how much time would be devoted to soccer? or, did you just say everyone will be playing soccer all the time and anyone who wants to play basketball is being unfair? Christ.

But what you keep missing is that what each side gains has to balance out what they're giving up to for an actual compromise rather than one in name only. I have no idea what your reference to my school years has to the discussion.

Well he had to raise taxes when his deficits were abnormally large. Just like Kansas did. because voodoo economics is a farce and an insult the intelligence of the American people.

LOL, right, but "taxes" is a broad term. Some of his "tax hikes" were actually closing loopholes, for instance. He didn't adjust income tax rates much.

 

[Winston]

But what you keep missing is that what each side gains has to balance out what they're giving up to for an actual compromise rather than one in name only. I have no idea what your reference to my school years has to the discussion.

Judging by the Tea Party's and the Obama base's recoiling to tax increases and cutting entitlements, I would say it was a fair bargain. However, it failed. If you'll notice the thread says "Did Obama ever try bipartisanship?" I provided an example when he did. If you care to grouse further about how it wasn't a compromise, when it clearly was, that's not on me. It may have been a compromise you did not like. But, it was a compromise nonetheless. To be clear, neither of the bases liked the compromise. Progressives incinerated Obama for this attempted bipartisanship with the extremist right.

LOL, right, but "taxes" is a broad term. Some of his "tax hikes" were actually closing loopholes, for instance. He didn't adjust income tax rates much.

Sure. He still raised them 11 times. So, which of the tax increases do you see as a betrayal?

 

[PeteEU]

He did? Where? During his first meetings on healthcare he made it clear he has won the elections and elections "have consequences". Have any specific instances?

You do understand that technically Obamacare was bipartisan right?

And stop living in the right wing vacuum. It was clear from the start that the GOP refused to work with Obama. That we after the fact have learned that the GOP top leadership met on the night he was elected and swore to each other to derail any Obama administration, only adds to this fact.

Almost no matter what Obama would have done, the GOP would have opposed it. When Obama got Bin Laden, the GOP were pissed because this was the one thing they could not criticise him about! Else the GOP was known under Obama as the party of NO!

 

[Lovebug]

One thing I always despise when they speak is the "they", "those" "the other side". GW, Obama, Trump, not one of them is innocent when it comes to making disparaging remarks about half of our population. Why not "our fellow citizens"?

 

[Bullseye]

You do understand that technically Obamacare was bipartisan right? [

It was? WTF does "technically" mean How many Republicans voted for it?

And stop living in the right wing vacuum. It was clear from the start that the GOP refused to work with Obama. That we after the fact have learned that the GOP top leadership met on the night he was elected and swore to each other to derail any Obama administration, only adds to this fact.

LOL, Ah, yes, the mantra escapes from the LW vacuum. As usual, you've got it backwards. Obama is famous for his "Hey, I won, elections have consequences" stance on GOP input. For his first two years he had almost a total lock on both houses of Congress - at most needing to turn one GOP Senator and often not even that.

Almost no matter what Obama would have done, the GOP would have opposed it. When Obama got Bin Laden, the GOP were pissed because this was the one thing they could not criticise him about! Else the GOP was known under Obama as the party of NO!

LOL, what a wonderfully inane "Nuh-uh" from an Obama faithful.