Reid Calls For Compromise: 'We Are Not Ostriches With Our Heads In The Sand'

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), whose victory last night marked the single greatest win for Democrats this election cycle, said Wednesday that the biggest takeaway from this election is that the American people want compromise across party lines.

"We are not ostriches with our heads in the sand," said Reid of his Democratic colleagues. "We are willing to pull our heads out and look around if they have some better ideas."

Also on hand were Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), as well as Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who had been well positioned to become majority leader had Reid lost and Democrats kept control of the Senate.

"They want us to roll up our sleeves and find common ground even if it means giving in, as we must," said Durbin on a conference call with reporters. "They must give in. It's what the American process has been about. It's what the Senate has been about."

That's a statement likely to anger voters on the left, who feel Obama has already been too timid. What's more, the Republican Party has given Democrats little reason to hope for much compromise, having run successfully on a ticket of obstructionism this November.

At a press conference on Wednesday morning at the Capitol, Boehner said Republicans would begin laying the groundwork for repealing Obama's health care law, among other things.

"The American people have concerns about government takeover of health care," Boehner said. "I think it's important for us to lay the groundwork before we begin to repeal this monstrosity.

Though that sentiment doesn't sound like compromise, the message expressed by Senate Democrats today was underscored by a chastened President Barack Obama during a news conference on Wednesday.

"No one party will be able to dictate where we go from here. We must find common ground in order to make progress on some uncommonly difficult challenges," Obama told reporters. "I do believe there is hope for civility. I do believe there is hope for progress and that's because I believe in the resiliency of a nation that has bounced back from much worse than what it is going through right now."

To observers of Congress, HuffPost's Sam Stein reports, Obama's statement seemed more a rhetorical flourish than anything.

Comments

[LLelantra]

09:07 PM on 11/17/2010

A historic defeat and we leave the REID/PELOSI in place. Who runs this party, really? Meanwhile a decent man, Obama, will bear the ill effects of their nincompoopery. The vote was against who was running the congress, even progressives hold their nose when they vote for these two, not against the president.

[Philclock]

06:24 PM on 11/15/2010

All you "progressives" complaining about Demo-rats not taking a hard line, what the heck was the Health Care atrocity to you, it's everything you want short of the government running the whole show? So-called "private" insurance companies are as private as the NFL, protected by anti-trust law and herded state by state into heavily regulated mini-monopolies, just like utilities.

You people like it better if Fidel ran the show and just took over everything, without the nuances, is that your problem?

[CTtransplant]

08:57 PM on 11/03/2010

I remember both Boehner and McConnell at the end of last year, and the early part of this one - and the fact that, despite Dems efforts to compromise, all they did was say 'NO'...they would not compromise, they would not contribute, they smacked the hands that 'reached across the isle'. At that time, many of us stated (turns out VERY accurately) that, come the 2010 elections, the Repubs would turn around and say it was the Dems who would not compromise....and, lo and behold, just what did both Boehner and McConnell do last night!

I think it's time for Dems and our President to take a really hard line! For the Repubs to smack down any Dem efforts to 'work together', for Repubs to say, in effect, 'you do it OUR way now, or we don't do anything' is just another smack-down! Boehner and McConnell have NO intention of working with the Dems...they did not then, and they will not now!

[patricksmom]

06:49 PM on 11/03/2010

The GOOP may attempt to dismantle already passed legislation, but it won't work, because public opiniion will be against them. This wasn't a vote for the GOOP; this was a vote in frustration over jobs. When the public see the GOOP trying to do away with popular health care reforms 2 years won't be up soon enough.

[CWonHP]

06:38 PM on 11/03/2010

Harry, you may wish to consider that your lack of spine is a major factor in the current Democratic losses. Yes, you won YOUR election ... against a certifiably crazy person ... that doesn't translate to mean your spinelessness is the right path.

Please, we've seen enough of the give-away-the-store before negotiation negotiations. Please can't the new congress learn to ignore the Wimp From Nevada? He has done us no good in the last four years.

[Mickey B]

06:35 PM on 11/03/2010

Reid calls for compromise. Does this mean the Republicans will morph from the party of NO to the party of MAYBE?

[roydoe]

06:33 PM on 11/03/2010

Compromise is to Republican as Lunch-money is to Bully

[nofriendofrepublicans]

06:33 PM on 11/03/2010

The dems are masters of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

[ModerateOhioDemocrat]

06:33 PM on 11/03/2010

We are in a tight spot right now. A lot of timid midwestern and western Senators running for us in 2012 are not going to do anything that smells of progressivism. Manchin is a Republican and he doesn't even know it.

I expect that the House will force a vote on repeal of healthcare to crush Dems running in 2012 who vote against repeal.

I expect that the tax cuts will get extended for everyone. If Dems draw a line in the sand on this, it will backfire as everyone will end up with a tax increase during a recession. That will not help the economy.

The House is not going to be held accountable for the economy just as it was not held accountable from 2006-8 when it was in Democratic hands.

Cap and Trade is obviously dead. Should have gone for a simple understandable carbon tax that could not be gamed by Wall Street. The whole "Cap and Trade Scheme" motif was too easy to attack for Republicans. Now the polar bear is doomed. Sad really.

I expect that there will be investigations of Holder and the Justice Department.

You KNOW they are going to defund PBS.

They can easily filibuster judicial picks with their strengthened minority in the Senate.

This was a disaster and we can lay it at the hands of Pelosi and Reid for not passing quick, simple and popular measures instead of bloated 'transformative' legislation.

[jeb50]

06:33 PM on 11/03/2010

The gop has proven that compromise does not work for them. It's either their way or no way. The Dems refused to take a strong stand before and lost big because of it.

[JackNasty]

06:30 PM on 11/03/2010

That's our spineless Harry, always ready with a preemptive compromise. The man has never fought for anything but own access to power.

[nofriendofrepublicans]

06:29 PM on 11/03/2010

Almost makes me wish Obtuse Angel had won.

[LeftRight]

06:30 PM on 11/03/2010

She was the only teabaglican I was rooting for....

[nofriendofrepublicans]

06:36 PM on 11/03/2010

I think the casino owners were afraid of her.

[kittenmittens4]

06:29 PM on 11/03/2010

I will wait to see what they do but I think I am done defending Obama and Reid. You cannot compromise with people who are b*llies and unwilling to compromise with you. If they do not understand that this election was NOT about repealing health care or giving tax cuts to the rich, then we are do*med.

[sb250guy]

06:29 PM on 11/03/2010

"Reid Calls For Compromise"

There's a shocker! What a pu**y!

[imwitubo]

06:32 PM on 11/03/2010

So he wasn't compromising before? Well, no shock there.

[Political Piggy]

06:26 PM on 11/03/2010

Harry - they want BOTH parties to compromise, not just the Democratic Party. So, it is fine that you are offering to compromise, but you should also point out - publicly and explicitly - that voters want the Republican Tea Party to compromise as well.

By the way Harrry - did you notice that the Senate kept a Democratic majority - that does NOT mean that voters gacve a mandate to the Republican Tea Party to turn the politics of no into the politics of heads I win and tails you lose.