In today's National Journal, Ron Fournier mentions White House comments on why so many more jobs were created under Bill Clinton than under Barack Obama.
"Clinton didn't have an insane GOP caucus to deal with," said a White House official when posed the comparison.
This is the kind of analysis that passes for journalism today. Sadly, it is the kind of excuse that just does not cut it. Think for a moment about what the White House is really saying. The excuse is that Obama is stymied because the Republicans are so crazy that they stop anything he wants to do. Really? How did Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Ford, Nixon, Eisenhower and Truman deal with Congress when it was controlled by the other party. I don't recall there being a complete failure to accomplish anything by those presidents. Only Obama has been stopped for the entire time that the Republicans have controlled the House.
So why is that? The truth is that Obama is not trying. There are all sorts of compromises that could be reached between the White House and the GOP if only Obama would be willing to accept something less than everything he asks for. Most recently, the GOP has been seeking to trade the relief on the Sequester cuts that Obama wants for the modifications to entitlement programs that Obama himself proposed in earlier negotiations. That's the Republicans saying that they would give Obama what he wants in exchange for Obama doing what he already said he was willing to accept. Obama's response so far has been silence.
How about items like bringing home the trillions of dollars held overseas by American corporations. Even super liberals in the media like Eugene Robinson have spoken in favor of this idea. We know that the GOP would favor it; Paul Ryan has made that clear. But Obama, instead, wants to confiscate that cash through new and heavy taxation, something the GOP cannot accept. So, instead of reaching an agreement that could boost the economy in a major way, Obama remains obstinate and nothing gets done.
A president has to be willing to compromise. By compromise, I mean a real compromise where both sides give somewhat on the dispute, not an Obama compromise where he expects the other side to capitulate. America has suffered because our leader refuses to compromise. The result has been that nothing good has been accomplished.
"Clinton didn't have an insane GOP caucus to deal with," said a White House official when posed the comparison.
This is the kind of analysis that passes for journalism today. Sadly, it is the kind of excuse that just does not cut it. Think for a moment about what the White House is really saying. The excuse is that Obama is stymied because the Republicans are so crazy that they stop anything he wants to do. Really? How did Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Ford, Nixon, Eisenhower and Truman deal with Congress when it was controlled by the other party. I don't recall there being a complete failure to accomplish anything by those presidents. Only Obama has been stopped for the entire time that the Republicans have controlled the House.
So why is that? The truth is that Obama is not trying. There are all sorts of compromises that could be reached between the White House and the GOP if only Obama would be willing to accept something less than everything he asks for. Most recently, the GOP has been seeking to trade the relief on the Sequester cuts that Obama wants for the modifications to entitlement programs that Obama himself proposed in earlier negotiations. That's the Republicans saying that they would give Obama what he wants in exchange for Obama doing what he already said he was willing to accept. Obama's response so far has been silence.
How about items like bringing home the trillions of dollars held overseas by American corporations. Even super liberals in the media like Eugene Robinson have spoken in favor of this idea. We know that the GOP would favor it; Paul Ryan has made that clear. But Obama, instead, wants to confiscate that cash through new and heavy taxation, something the GOP cannot accept. So, instead of reaching an agreement that could boost the economy in a major way, Obama remains obstinate and nothing gets done.
A president has to be willing to compromise. By compromise, I mean a real compromise where both sides give somewhat on the dispute, not an Obama compromise where he expects the other side to capitulate. America has suffered because our leader refuses to compromise. The result has been that nothing good has been accomplished.
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