Obama On Republicans: 'I'm An Optimist, Not A Sap'

In an interview with columnists aboard Air Force One, President Obama talked about what he learned from the stimulus battle. Pronouncing himself impressed with his team for moving the legislation through Congress so quickly, he said the plan wasn't everything he wanted but was still a "very good start on moving things forward."

As for his experience with congressional Republicans, the president said, "I made every effort to reach out to Republicans early to get their input and to get their buy-in. I think that there were some senators and House members who have a sincere philosophical difference with the idea of any government role in boosting demand in the economy. They don't believe in [John Maynard] Keynes and they're still fighting FDR ... I think we can disagree without being disagreeable on that front."

He added that the GOP also made a "political and tactical" decision to oppose the stimulus as a way to rally their base. "Whether that's a smart strategy, I think you should ask them." He said that it was his impression that the House Republicans decided to vote party-line against the bill before he met with them. "I'm not sure that there was a whole host of things that we were going to do that was going to make a difference." (Republicans dispute that interpretation, claiming they were open to the stimulus when they met with Obama.)

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said recently that Obama lost control of the stimulus debate by focusing too much on bipartisanship.

Asked if he would be so willing to reach out to Republicans in the future, the president responded, "You know, I am an eternal optimist. That doesn't mean I'm a sap."

Looking more forward, the president also outlined his priorities for the rest of the year:

My priorities for the rest of the year. Number one is to get the right structure for the successor to TARP; spending the $300-some billion that has already been authorized as wisely as possible, and injecting transparency and trust into the financial system. Having a housing program that provides relief to people who are at risk of losing their homes. Financial regulations that ensure that the crisis doesn't happen again. A innovative and aggressive push for health care reform that focuses not just on access but also on costs, and trying to just provide relief to working families. And a push for an energy policy that puts us on a path to sustainability.

Comments

[barackobama4prez]

elephants are always slower than donkeys.

[victoria38]

what you really mean is elephants have better memories than arses...

[mrsmdressup]

elephants are almost extinct

[StillIRise]

Better memories? The Republicans can't even remember that they lost?

And since their agenda is apparently business and partisan politics as usual, they obviously can't even remember WHY they lost.

I understand better now why John McCain couldn't remember how may houses he owned! He's a Republican!

[SCG]

They've forgotten Hoover.

[Danielle Kelly]

Nah - if they had better memories, they would remember that eight years of tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations created this economy.

[merrill1]

Mmm, but elephants produce a lot more cr#p.

[Happyexpat]

I think it's time to change the symbol for the republican party. elephants are extremely intelligent, exquisitely sensitive and take care of their own. Doesn't seem right to me that such a fine creature be thus disparaged. As for the donkey and the Dems, you can't make a donkey do anything it doesn't want to do, so I'm not sure that one still works either.

What about plankton for the Repubs? No......too nourishing.

[fnygy]

I like his take on his priorities moving forward. Let's get behind health care reform and energy independence!

[dandypuddin]

I'm with you 100%.

[LiberalDemIda]

With you 100% too. The ObamaExpress is moving full-steam ahead!

[davispty5]

Allllll aboard!

[victoria38]

Before we go headlong into nat'l healthcare, I would suggest you read the column by Nadeem Esmail, in the Feb 9 Wall S J... He is based in Calgary, Canada, and is director of Health System Performance Studies at the Fraser Institute.

The Canadian system is simply not as good as people think. In 2005 the Canadian Supreme Court ruled that "Canadians suffer physically and psychologically while waiting for treatment in the public healthcare system." The Court ruled that Quebec's "prohibition on private health insurance violates citizens' rights." The median wait time from referral to treatment is 17.3 weeks...

I strongly urge all to take 5 minutes and read this..

[dandypuddin]

link?

[LiberalDemIda]

The Canadian healthcare system is STILL better than the U.S. sickcare system, so any change will be an improvement.

While there might be a 17.3 week waiting period, I'm sure that in cases of emergencies there isn't one. That's how it is in The Netherlands where there are waiting periods too, but EVERYONE is insured and EVERYONE has primary, preventive health/dentalcare for HALF the price Americans here pay for, and in cases of emergencies, you are immediately helped.

Ask any Canadian which system they prefer, the American or their national healthcare, and you get your answer.

Oh, and in the future, if you want people to read something, post a link.

[Happyexpat]

I find this assessment very strange. I recently became an Italian citizen and have to say their health care system is excellent. I have had three preventive exams. Each time I received a letter informing me of time and place of my appt. and I was in and out in fifteen minutes. No waiting, very efficient AND..if they find a problem I get an immediate phone call and appt. for additional testing. Otherwise I get the results in the mail within a month. And this is ITALY mind you. Not world-famous for efficiency. So it surprises me that Canada would be such a mess. Then again, Italians, spoiled as they are with all this, complain incessantly about their system having no idea how bad health care can really be. So maybe it's the same with the Canadians.

[FrozenNorthObserver]

Damn right, prosecuting war criminals who start illegal wars and slice up peoples genitials is just a quaint idea, like the Geneva Conventions.

[hmmmmmer]

Bipartisanship is really a word that means nothing to the Republicans, it didn't during Bushes term, during their tenure in the House and Senate, and now that they have lost because of their antics they are whining foul.

Obama they are not worth the trouble, but I would still try just to make them look worse, if that is possible.

[tigerakabj]

Oh they are doing that by themselves. Obama is just putting the spotlight on them.

Look at McCain on CNN talking about how "Obama has gotten off to a bad start." I always have to remember that whatever Bush and/or his party said was good, do just the opposite. If they thought they could fool the American people into believing the sky was green to get elected, they would.

[Querent]

And they did.

[barackobama4prez]

if 76% is a bad start...i'd love to see a great start...

[dandypuddin]

Whatever is bad for the GOP is good for the people.

[hmmmmmer]

McSame on CNN was a disgrace.

[barackobama4prez]

i agree...let's keep it moving.....they are welcome to stay in the 80s

[greatlardini]

Yes--the 1880s.

[apoyo]

Bipartisanship does mean something to the republicans.

To them it means the democrats shut up and follow.

[Jamchinadian]

I heard that, to the Republican'ts, it means BIsexual Partisans.

[StellaRay]

"He added that the GOP also made a "political and tactical" decision to oppose the stimulus as a way to rally their base"

Those words---"rally their base"--- sure brings back memories, huh? Through the endless campaign we must have heard a thousand republican pundits and newspeople talk about rallying that darn base, and we all know how well that worked out for them.

And they're still rallying! Sure seems to take a lot to move the same herd of 20 elephants down the same old road.

[Invox]

Republicans still haven't figured out that getting votes depends on DOING something. Personally, I wouldn't change a thing about them. This is working for us pretty well, don't you think?

[StellaRay]

Yep. That poor over-rallied base looks so old and worn out they can't help but step in their own dung.

[StillIRise]

"Sure seems to take a lot to move the same herd of 20 elephants down the same old road."

LOL

BTW Stella, thanks for your congratulations. I responded to your post, but I'm sure it's lost somewhere in the muddle of blogs.

[tigerakabj]

I would think they learned their lesson after he decimated the Clinton machine and wiped up Old McCantankerous. A president getting out of la-la land Washington and going directly to the people to get their feedback? Some call that campaigning, I call it good business sense. Obama is the only person right now that can smack down all of their talking points and/or lies w/o the media cutting him off.

(I posted my previous post by accident twice).

[davispty5]

I couldn't agree more. Obama is at his best when he is talking directly to the American people.

[dandypuddin]

Love that he goes above the talking heads MSM and communicates directly with us!

[SoontobeBlueVirginia]

As he said in the campaign...when he wakes up in the morning, he's thinking about how to make America better for all of us.

[tigerakabj]

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
With my brains and the backing of the people, no one can beat me.

Every bill I pass is a home run
Every legislation I serve up is an ace
GOP obstructionists, I'll have you running all over the place

[LiberalDemIda]

Wonderful poem, tigerakabij!

[barackobama4prez]

i like it....but i also hear ROCKY music in my head...

[k6007]

Eye of the tiger?:)

[Kaviraj]

in like a needle out like a plough.
You guys have a good president for change

[Happyexpat]

This really made me smile....

[GrainOSand]

Sweet!

[Antifascist-08]

The Republicans are still playing the old game while Obama zips past them again.

They still don't get it. They should by now, but they don't. Its amazing. All the posturing of the last 2 weeks is behind us now and the bill is going to be law. They are left in the dust, again.

Step one completed. The team is getting stronger and more experienced by the day. Momentum is on OUR side now.

I guess that black guy with the funny name is pretty smart after all, and no sap.

[MSaxe]

He's obviously "no sap".

He got his first major bill through over 100% Republican obstruction in the House while letting everyone know he allowed them into the process, heard them out and included a lot of their tax relief ideas. He gets all the points except those he never had even a remote chance of including.

This guy is "no sap". If they want to keep playing this way, 2008 will be their best election in a generation. He's gonna roll them and he's got the people behind him.

[LiberalDemIda]

Nope. President Obama is in no way any sap.

He's got all the poetry-in-motion Muhammad Ali-style, floating like a butterfly over their collective heads, while stinging (ZIIIIIING!) like a bee.

Howard Fineman warned his opponents: "Obama is a formidable politician, and his opposition should be careful not to underestimate him."

And yet they continue to do so...

[dwright]

Agreed - he is making the GOP a party that is on its way out. I think that those 30% of Americans that will hang in there with the GOP are quickly becoming the minority party and by 2012 they will be in the realm as a 3rd party because there is room for a progressive party to challenge the dems. Obama is actually more of a progressive than the traditional "Dem".

The Republicans are quickly going to eat their own.

[3dtrix]

Disagree - the GOP are making the GOP a party on the way out...

[special muppet]

It's all looking good as far as I'm concerned. I don't care what Obama does. I'm just happy that there is someone in charge making reasoned decisions, based on facts. That alone is such a refreshing change. I trust this president implicitly.

[rubinoff]

He has my full confidence.

[GrainOSand]

Trust is crucial, along with patience.

[roshni]

President Obama is giving our country his all. He has my full support and patience as he straightens this stuff out.

[hialoha]

Full support. There may be some mistakes along the way, but history in the present tense is astounding.

[barackobama4prez]

my hope is that he will prosecute the bush officials during his last 2 years in his second term. that way we will have already pushed most of the legislative agenda through congress.

[Sportswoman]

I think it's the Rethuglicants who were ginned up...

[davispty5]

LMAO! I couldn't agree more.

[zull2]

If you want to castrate the right wing media machine, which is probably as responsible as anything for the last 30 years of extreme partisanship, the only way to really do that is to render them irrelevant. The only way to do THAT is to persuade their side, whether by shaming them or by giving them the opportunity to be winners again, to take the opposite side of those on the talkers on the right. If right wing media folks don't feel like they're influencing policy, they become running punchlines. The reason people LISTEN to these people is because these guys like Limbaugh and Hannity are heard more by conservative voters and as a result, have those conservative politicians by the nethers.

[rubinoff]

don't exclude CNN and MSNBC....they love to have people on their shows who stir the pot...

[LiberalDemIda]

With the exception of David Shuster, Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow, that is. Everyone else on MSNBC is a corporate t00/.

[hyjanks]

"The GOP are like the men caught with a prostitute and NOW LOUDLY, shouting support for family values by displaying all the fake emotions and concerns for the family. For the last 8 yrs the GOP were f***** with the budget and spending on their pet programs (i,e patronizing prostitutes) and NOW after getting caught (thrown out of office) they are preaching fiscal responsibility (Family values) BS."

This would be an apt analogy if it weren't literally true.

[victoria38]

Thanks for bringing up Spitzer...I thought that story was over..

[hyjanks]

At least Spitzer resigned in disgrace. When was the last time you saw a Republican take responsibility for any of his or her actions?

[zigzag1]

Actually, Spitzer was right on with his warnings and pursuit of crooked bankers

[roshni]

Good analogy.
This mess is THEIR doing and they are trying to obstruct Obama from sorting it out while trying to blame it on him.

[victoria38]

Where's my 4% mortgage??

[amistad]

Where your old mortgage is.

[hyjanks]

Ask Phil Gramm. I'm sure he and his wife have the wherewithal to give you one.

[merrill1]

Refinance.

[rmetz74]

No one promised you one.

[smileatfear]

SAP = Silly Angry Partisan.

He's right. He's not a sap.

[LiberalDemIda]

Yep. That's more befitting McCain these days.

[KillBillV2]

How gorgeous is Obama in that picture? "I'm an Optimist, Not A Sap"...


I love this man.....