Democrats react to Wyden-Ryan Medicare plan

Even the New York Daily News gets it.

Reactions were typical of Washington. Partisan Democrats groused, knowing their ability to demagogue this issue had just taken a hit.

White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said, “The Wyden-Ryan scheme” — note the cleverly derisive word — would “end Medicare as we know it for millions of seniors.” Baloney. The only thing certain to end Medicare as we know it is the status quo of Medicare itself.

Does he really believe this: "If you were looking for a bunch of partisan rhetoric, I'm probably not your guy."

RCP has a video of this quote by Obama: "If you were looking for a bunch of partisan rhetoric, I'm probably not your guy."

Is this the same president who in May inaccurately attacked Republicans and belittled them over immigration reform this way:

So, we have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement. But even though we've answered these concerns, I suspect there will be those who will try to move the goal posts one more time. They'll say we need to triple the border patrol. Or quadruple the border patrol. They'll say we need a higher fence to support reform.

Maybe they'll say we need a moat. Or alligators in the moat.

They'll never be satisfied. And I understand that. That's politics. . . .

Discussions about Obama bringing civility into politics can be found here and here.

Obama faces the widest partisan job approval gap in modern polling history. Yet, this could be either because he is particularly partisan or that Republican voters just aren't giving him a chance.

Obama seems to deny that he is calling Republicans "enemies"

It seemed a clear and obvious statement to me.

“Now the Republicans are saying that I'm calling them enemies,” Obama said during a get-out-the-vote to The Michael Baisden Show. “What I'm saying is you’re an opponent of this particular provision, comprehensive immigration reform, which is something very different.”

In the earlier interview, Obama said: "If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, 'We're gonna punish our enemies, and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us' — if they don't see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election — then I think it's going to be harder. And that's why I think it's so important that people focus on voting on November 2nd."

In remarks prepared for delivery at an election-eve rally in Cincinnati, Boehner seized on the “enemies” passage: “Ladies and gentlemen, we have a president in the White House who referred to Americans who disagree with him as 'our enemies.' … Mr. President, there's a word for people who have the audacity to speak up in defense of freedom, the Constitution, and the values of limited government that made our country great. We don't call them 'enemies.' We call them 'patriots.'" . . .

Obama blames others for oil spill

With Democrats massively controlling both the House and the Senate, Obama somehow gets in a dig at Republicans and blames them for the problems in the gulf. Never mind that "six months" ago that Obama never went to Congress over these issues and never mind that Republicans have virtually no power on the Hill, he was still going after them.

President Barack Obama said Friday that some members of Congress should share the blame for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

In an exclusive one-on-one interview with POLITICO, the president said: “I think it’s fair to say, if six months ago, before this spill had happened, I had gone up to Congress and I had said we need to crack down a lot harder on oil companies and we need to spend more money on technology to respond in case of a catastrophic spill, there are folks up there, who will not be named, who would have said this is classic, big-government overregulation and wasteful spending.”

The president also implied that anti-big government types such as Tea Party activists were being hypocritical on the issue.

“Some of the same folks who have been hollering and saying ‘do something’ are the same folks who, just two or three months ago, were suggesting that government needs to stop doing so much,” Obama said. “Some of the same people who are saying the president needs to show leadership and solve this problem are some of the same folks who, just a few months ago, were saying this guy is trying to engineer a takeover of our society through the federal government that is going to restrict our freedoms.” . . .

Obama the Bi-partisan

Since I knew Obama at Chicago, I have no problem believing that he has a hard time getting along with those with whom he disagrees. RealClearPolitics has this:

And on a few occasions he's done what he did this past Tuesday when he made a plea for bipartisanship to Republicans during the day, and then turned right around and attacked the GOP before a highly partisan audience that night at a fundraiser for Barbara Boxer in San Francisco.

In fact, Obama made a revealing comment about his view of bipartisanship on Tuesday night. According to the New York Times, Obama related the following to the Democratic crowd about part of his lunch conversation with Republicans regarding the issue of immigration:

“You've got to meet me on solving the problem long-term. It's not enough just to talk about the National Guard down at the border,” Mr. Obama said he told the lawmakers. “You don't even have to meet me halfway. I'll bring most Democrats on these issues. I'm just looking for 8 or 10 of you.”

Notice how Obama frames himself as the bipartisan bridge builder who's willing to travel great political distances - well beyond "halfway" - to reach a compromise with Republicans. Yet in the very next breath Obama reveals he's really only interested in traveling a bare minimum in a quest for bipartisanship.

Democrats don't need Republicans for Banking Reform Bill

Previously I posted a Talking Point Memo about Democrats hoping that Republicans would oppose the financial regulations bill so that they could use the issue in the coming election. Well, the Democrats appear to be making it impossible for Republicans to support the bill.

“I would say all signs we get from the White House is they’re not interested in talking, they’re not interested in making a deal with us,” McConnell told reporters. “They want to jam through a totally partisan bill. And if they do that, and it looks like the Dodd bill, it will guarantee perpetual taxpayer bailouts of Wall Street banks.”

Republicans are gravitating toward a strategy that defies the conventional wisdom held by Democrats — that the GOP, from a political standpoint, cannot throw up uniform opposition to Wall Street reform as it did with health care reform. A senior Senate Republican aide said the conference believes it has “a strong case to make as to why the bill is bad.” . . .

UPDATE: So much for Obama's bipartisanship.

For weeks, the White House strategy on financial regulatory reform remained an open question: Would President Barack Obama water down his bill just to get something passed — the way he did on health care?

A Palinesque “Hell no!” was the answer coming from the White House on Wednesday as the president, his senior aides and his allies on Capitol Hill issued an ultimatum to Republicans fighting Democrats’ plans to overhaul financial oversight.

“For the president, you have to be willing to accept a strong bill,” said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, after Obama emerged from a contentious meeting with GOP congressional leaders.

“If the effort to get this close is simply to take steps to weaken that legislation, that’s not what the president is interested in.”

Democrats are so emboldened that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is prepared to bring the Banking Committee bill to the floor with no major concessions to Republicans and essentially dare them to vote against the measure, senior leadership aides said. . . .

Voters see Obama as political partisan

To be honest, I am surprised that this percent isn't higher. Some context is also helpful, as "Fifty-six percent (56%) of all voters say Republicans in Congress are acting like partisan Republicans."

Less than a week after President Obama signed the health care reform bill into law, more voters than ever say he is governing like a partisan Democrat.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 56% of likely voters believe the president is governing like a partisan Democrat, up three points over the past month and the highest level measured since he took office in January 2009.
The week after his inauguration, just 39% of voters felt that way.
Only 28% now say the president is governing on a bipartisan basis, tying the lowest level measured reached last month. Another 16% are not sure.
Not surprisingly, Republicans are twice as likely as Democrats to say the president is governing on a partisan basis. Half (50%) of voters not affiliated with either party say the president is governing like a partisan Democrat, but 31% disagree. . . .

Obama on bipartisanship

"I don't want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess . . ."