Kasz216 on 16 December 2011
| fastyxx said: Until we elect people willing to work together, it doesn't matter who the President is, unless they also have super majorities in both the House and Senate that all think/act/vote the exact same way. And of course, that's exactly the government we really don't want, no matter WHO has the power. America, from the founding fathers framing the government onward to the voting public now, have NEVER wanted that consolidation of power. We, on the whole, constantly split votes and want split, divided power. Obama showed every motivation again and again to want to bring people together and not be a dictator. In some circumstances, he's been forced to appropriate powers in order to get anything done (and the doors for him to be ABLE to do this were largely opened by Dick Cheney/George Bush II, which is why it's dangerous to open that door. It's all well and good when you like the guy doing it/what he does, but eventually the other "team" gets power.) And don't take that to be a criticism of just the GOP. The Democrats in Washington are also roadblocks, though in slightly different ways. Both sides are much too intransigent, though I will allow that more Dems try and get some stuff done - - their base then screams that they've "caved". But if they didn't "cave" from time to time,NOTHING would happen. You can blame the President as much as you want for his role in not being able to get things passed, but his power in that regard is severely limited. He can ask and work behind the scenes, but when the GOP literally says no to everything he says and are perfectly willing to filibuster anything and everything, what else can he do? The President has vetoed only two bills. This is an absurdly low number. Why? Because NOTHING GETS TO HIS DESK. He's not the one slowing things down. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_vetoes So he's not getting anything he asks for, outside of Health Care, which hardly resembles what he really wanted. And he's not getting anything he vehemently disagrees with either. He's getting - - nothing. So far he's on pace to have the fewest vetoes of any modern president, with the exception of Bush II's first term - when 9/11 happened his first year and they (sadly in many cases, in my opinion) somewhat rubber-stamped everything that came up. |
I'd buy that arguement if it wasn't for the fact that Obama had 2 years of super majority, anything democrats agree on passes.
Aside from which, the behind the scenes talk suggests that it was actually the democrats unwilling to compromise on the deficit deal.
