Obama: Republicans will "Play to their Base"

Source: CBS News

President Obama is starting off the new year with a clear-eyed assessment of the opposition he'll face from Congress this year.

Fresh from a nearly two-week vacation in Hawaii, Mr. Obama told reporters aboard a Washington-bound Air Force One last night that he expects Republicans "to play to their base for a certain period of time."

Indeed, one of the first acts of the new GOP-led House next week will be to vote to repeal Mr. Obama's signature accomplishment, the health care overhaul. Asked specifically what he thought about that largely symbolic vote, Mr. Obama declined to say.

"I think that there's gonna be politics, that's what happens in Washington," the president said. "But I'm pretty confident that they're going to recognize that our job is to govern and make sure that we are delivering jobs for the American people and that we are creating a competitive economy for the 21st Century. Not just for this generation but for the next one."

Incoming House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell will realize, Mr. Obama added, "that there will be plenty of time to campaign for 2012 in 2012."

"Our job this year is to make sure that we build on recovery," he said. "We started making good progress on that in the lame-duck, and I expect to build on that progress when I get back."

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20027138-503544.html?tag=stack

I was thinking the same damn thing... why didnt the Democratic Party play to our base, instead of "reaching across the aisle," the last two years?

“The left of the left — at least as represented by some of its commentators hovering around the Democratic Party — has a choice: make a New Years’ resolution to rejoin the reality-based community, or head for its own version of Tea Party la-la Land negativity.” -- by Frank Schaeffer


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-schaeffer/obamas-lefty-critics-owe-_b_802911.html

The stupid Teabaggers did. I consider myself part of the base and voted in November despite disappointments.

And the Left should continue to support their principles.

Hawaii, California, Oregon, even New York.

The base in those states voted Democratic because the Democratic candidates in those states stood for Democratic values.

We could have had major victories around the country had Obama supported the candidates with strong Democratic values, but instead he chose to support neither/nors like Blanche Lincoln.


Obama threw away the chance to have a strong Democratic majority in the House.

the campaign trail, but was a fighter. That's what I like to see. Most of the House members who lost were Blue Dogs.

n/t

in a very Republican district which just happened to go Democratic in the 2008 election.

Sestak probably lost a lot of votes from Obama voters who may have voted for Spector in the primary.

But here in California, after years and years of Republican governors, we finally have a solid Democratic governor, Jerry Brown.

And he started by contacting local governments at various local levels and promising to return a lot of decision-making power to those local leaders. Good move. That is a truly Democratic move. Jerry Brown will make the tough choices fairly. And we know that the choices in California will be extremely tough.

Please elaborate. I would LOVE to hear how it's the President's fault that Congressional Democrats are cowards and shitty campaigners.

that the relabeling of long time FDR democrats as "fringe" to be identified by their alleged counterparts the corporate faux astroturf teabaggers, are the democrats who actually believe in the democratic platform, not the DLC corporate platform. Now we are the fringe. What a fekkin joke!!!!

And the reality is that some democrats are republicans carrying wallstreet's water against mainstreet. And, some are more than willing to march with the rest of the neo-cons to drown any social safety net in the tub, but not that which will still control the proles.

Apparently the administration doesn't see the irony in those comments......or they hope no one in paying attention.

At least Republicans seem to at least fear their base, knowing that without them they would not be where they are at.

When they're not loudly and belligerently proclaiming themselves to be his "base" and shrieking that they will destroy him, Obama's "base" is demanding unswerving, unconditional loyalty from a guy who was elected to the Presidency of the United States, not the Presidency of the People Who Agree With Him.

if recent events are any indication.

if the last two years are any indicator.

They make some pithy victimized talking point about PRESIDENT Obama supporting the right; you challenge them to point out one; they return with yet another pithy victimized talking point.

It's really sad that we must endure this AT DU. We could go to a rightwing site and get the same unsupportable crap.

No one is saying Obama supports the right, that's just B.S. from the people who are not realistic about Obama and the times he has backed down to GOP demands.

Like the tax cut.


What's really sad are the Obama supporters who can't see his faults.

Sickening more than sad, really. :puke:

Please, enlighten me--because I have not seen a single person on this board who has agreed with the President on everything.

And you'd be lying if you said you did, too.

The tea baggers are not the base.

And I was referring to how Obama gave in to the GOP BASE in Congress on several issues.

What, not pandering to the GOP base?

Not allowing Single Payer or even Public Option on the table..Gitmo still open..No terrorist trials within the USA..Some people held even after found not guilty...Official admission that some people even Americans can be assassinated by government agents..The Conservative lean to this Administration has been noticed by many, but not you....

nm

watering down FinReg, drill baby drill, expanding the wars, condoning torture, forgive and forget Bush war crimes, targeting WikiLeaks, attack unions, privatize public education, etc.

Says a lot.

The Obama administration “will revise a Medicare regulation to delete references to end-of-life planning” included in the new health care law, an abrupt change because the new rule just took effect January 1. The New York Times notes that, while “administration officials cited procedural reasons for changing the rule, it was clear that political concerns were also a factor.”

He specifically said the "republican base".

little more than a pain in the ass.

Fire is hot and water is wet.

They don't insult their base either.
Duh.

remember the e-mail to Reed to fire up his "religious loony" base to go against some gambling bill? They use their base by whipping up their pet domestic concerns like gays, choice and immigrants. See, jobs and helping others don't need to be addressed.

:sarcasm:

from the word Meister.

Dear President Obama.

Believe it or not, you do not need to state the obvious anymore. Please start filling your speeches with actionable substance instead of go no where flourish.

-p

GWTW.

But I am afraid he will answer it with, "Those guys I keep ripping on".

Not "The 15% of perpetually-pissed off "liberals" who don't like good news because they've already made up their minds that I've sold my soul to the devil."

to be quite frank,

When it comes to consideration of the 2012 Election Cycle.
Give those shyster republicans 2 years, and the Masses will
be gnashing their teeth to vote for anyone but a republican.
Republican Hubris over regaining the House will be their
undoing. People are angry, so they 'voted the bums out'.
After Americans digest the garbage the republicans are now
proposing, and will no doubt deliver for their Corporate
Bosses, only a well programed Diebold machine will save them.

The President should know by now that he will get ZERO cooperation
from the Good'ol Boys Club.

we have talking points too. Sadly, ours are just as bad as theirs.

Their base leaves a lot to be desired. Ignorant, ill-informed, brainwashed by the RW pundits.

even when things get economically worse, the right's water boys and girls will have access to MSM to tell their willfully ignorant base who is really at fault, as they've already done. It's those greedy civil servants, those immigrants, those socialists-but it's not wall street insiders betting on our misery and loss, or banks scalping us or greedy, bottom line corporations or politicians shoveling our money to their best corporate friends.

Those who cannot defend themselves the most will be the scapegoats-poor, disabled, elderly, immigrants.

He's gotta know how it's gonna go down though. Endless subpoenas from Darrell Issa's House O' Crazy.