Obama, Republicans Spar at House GOP Event

[hazlnut]

Obama, Republicans Spar at House GOP Event

Discussing matters ranging from job growth to the national debt to health care, the president said "both sides" bear responsibility for the "sour climate" on Capitol Hill, and agreed he could have done more during his first year in office to bring the parties together.

"It's not just your side. It's our side as well," he said.

The exchanges at times were sharp. One Republican complained that "the national debt has increased 30%" during the past year; that elicited a rebuke from Mr. Obama, who countered that "The whole question was structured as a talking point."

The article goes into more detail about some of the exchanges that took place during this unprecedented event. From what I saw, there were good points on both sides. (1) House GOPs (2) President Obama.

I would like to see more of this with fact checking going on simultaneously.

It sounds like although there were some hard questions and criticisms directed at the President, they were respectful of the office and acknowledge the President's stepping up and beginning what I hope is an ongoing discussion.

FULL TRANSCRIPT

 

[jujuman13]

After MA, Obama needs the GOP.
The GOP have never NEEDED Obama!

 

[OxymoronP]

Obama doesnt need the GOP, he doesnt need the DNC he needs leaders in both houses.

 

[Orion]

Obama doesn't bridge the parties as much as he tries to make it seem. He says both parties are responsible for whatever goes down, so why does he continue to polarize debates in congress and make one-sided policy?

Do as you say, not say as you do.

 

[hazlnut]

Obama doesn't bridge the parties as much as he tries to make it seem. He says both parties are responsible for whatever goes down, so why does he continue to polarize debates in congress and make one-sided policy?

Do as you say, not say as you do.

That point was raised several times.

But I got to say -- the more clips from this event I see, it was very compelling political debate.

 

[rblaze09]

i have heard that fox news cut off the last 20 mins of this debate. Can anyone confirm or disprove this?

 

[The Prof]

the president is becoming desperate and delusional

according to reuters, he was "testy" and "grew testier" while he "slammed" the republicans for their positions, "assailing" them for their obstruction

Obama, Republicans clash in unusual session | Reuters

then he flashed the hippy peace sign and said, "come, join with me"

typically incoherent

he's tired of the right painting him as "bolshevik"

bolshevik?

i haven't heard that word tossed around since last time i listened to david horowitz

i don't think horowitz was in the room

he's "not an ideologue," he insists

LOL!

mirandizing bombers and moving terrorists into lance ito's courtroom, taking over cars and banks and insurers, capping and trading energy, massively expanding gov't's grubby fingers into health care...

associating with acorn

his czars

his trillions spent

no, he's not an ideologue

why, he's a PRAGMATIST

LOL!

he's so PRACTICAL, boston bolted

HE, of all people, author of the fox news war, purveyor of astroturf, bemoans the ugly influence of "politics" in all his processes

i know if you vote with me, many of you might lose your jobs, he commiserates

he could be speaking to bryon dorgan, martha coakley, harry reid, blanche lincoln, russ feingold, evan bayh, michael bennett, mike ross, jason altmire, heath shuler, marion berry, frank kratovil, charlie melancon, earl pomeroy, glenn nye, jim marshall, jim cooper, alan boyd...

he JUST DID his sotu, and here is he is, back AGAIN

at some point, someone's gotta tell him---for MICHELLE's sake, shut up!

he shoulda taken his 5.7 and gone home

can you imagine barry letting anything REST for even a day?

his stripped-down, remaining argument---if i lose, then republicans WIN

he's looped himself an entire 360, he's running against his own defeat

the guy is flat out losing it

the last question was from jeb hanserling

obama kept referring to him as jim

jeb corrected him, but the big shoulders from chicago persisted in getting the man's name wrong

come, join with me, jim

LOL!

he has not a clue what's he's doing anymore

his post massachusetts agenda, you tell me, exactly how OLD is it?

two weeks?

when's he gonna do that cap gains cut?

all that offshore oil drilling?

is there any more REALITY to those puffs of prose than the moving of ksm, the closing of gitmo?

the cutting in half of the deficit?

cap gains and offshore oil are positions for a wednesday evening, nothing more

so he thinks he can take on all 150 republicans by himself

i'll debate em all, i'm barry

napoleonic

tom price of georgia asked, why do you keep repeating the charge that we republicans have offered "no ideas and no solutions?"

"i don't think i said that," nattered napoleon

and HE DOESN'T

LOL!

he laments the gotcha's, the political games playing

"this is what we do," he explains

well, then, why don't you stop, mr president?

you are chief exec, remember?

if i could ask him one question, it would be: why in your sotu did you call iran, "THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN," mr president?

devastating

 

[justabubba]

clearly, the GOP got hosed
Obama set them up, by getting the republicans to agree to air the Q&As live on tv
it was like a pro playing ball against a bunch of amateurs; Obama then ate their lunch and then made them throw away his garbage ... all in public view

it would appear the teleprompter is not so ncessary for him to score his points
hell, Obama was having so much fun, which he openly admitted, they had a difficult time getting him to leave the dais. he willingly volunteered to stay longer and blast a few more of the GOP congressmens' underhand pitches out of the park

 

[PeteEU]

clearly, the GOP got hosed
Obama set them up, by getting the republicans to agree to air the Q&As live on tv
it was like a pro playing ball against a bunch of amateurs; Obama then ate their lunch and then made them throw away his garbage ... all in public view

it would appear the teleprompter is not so ncessary for him to score his points
hell, Obama was having so much fun, which he openly admitted, they had a difficult time getting him to leave the dais. he willingly volunteered to stay longer and blast a few more of the GOP congressmens' underhand pitches out of the park

Of course the GOP got hosed. Why else did Faux News cut away and start slamming the President before the event was over.. hehe.

 

[aps]

i have heard that fox news cut off the last 20 mins of this debate. Can anyone confirm or disprove this?

I believe that is correct.

 

[aps]

I watched a lot of the footage and was thrilled with how Obama carried himself. Wow. I have been feeling so blah about his presidency, and loved what I watched.

He knew his facts. He accepted fault with issues that have gone wrong. He blamed BOTH Democrats and Republicans for the tone in Washington. I didn't like how he interrupted some of the people who were asking him questions, but maybe he was getting defensive. Overall, I thought Obama shined. It was fascinating to watch.

 

[The Prof]

what is the defensive one's agenda post massachusetts?

 

[Charles Martel]

Doesn't it seem rather...unpresidential?

The way he's on TV every day...his tour abroad bowing and chastising American policy. His clownish attempt to get the Olympics(I mean, Hitler...got the Olympics...for God's sake). He holds a big TV press conference for health care, he gets lost on some Cambridge Police event exposing this...unpresidentialness...we come out of that knowing more about the beer summit than we do the health care plan. He then calls a Joint Session.....now....the last time a Joint Session was called was after 9-11, our nation tends to leave these monumental endeavors for something important, not politics and domesic squabbling. Our Republicans don't honor themselves with the "you lie" spout, the whole thing was...well....unpresidential. He now goes to squabble with the House Repubs....it's the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate that should be addressing Repubs, the President should address them all.

He clearly pays attention to all the criticism, we all call that reading your own news. It's about as effective in leadership as it is on the sports fields, you start reading yer own press....it has a negative affect.

Lead...Mr. Obama. Take a page out of your predecessor's genius book and lead. Quit campaigning, quit coming to Repubs with your bs, you tried to slam this health care bill through before last August recess, now telling us you're no idealogue. Please.

Don't urinate down my back and tell me it's raining.

 

[Antagony]

clearly, the GOP got hosed
Obama set them up, by getting the republicans to agree to air the Q&As live on tv
it was like a pro playing ball against a bunch of amateurs; Obama then ate their lunch and then made them throw away his garbage ... all in public view

it would appear the teleprompter is not so ncessary for him to score his points
hell, Obama was having so much fun, which he openly admitted, they had a difficult time getting him to leave the dais. he willingly volunteered to stay longer and blast a few more of the GOP congressmens' underhand pitches out of the park

I liked the Huffpo's headline on this:

Obama Goes To GOP Lions' Den -- And Mauls The Lions

Sums it up perfectly! :mrgreen:

 

[j-mac]

First off, I'd like to thank Hazlnut for the measured and non insulting way he opened this thread. It was a real treat to open the thread and not be barraged with a slew of insults, but rather honest debate started.

With that said though, I listened to the whole thing yesterday as I was on my way back from FL. I must admit that I found myself wanting to hear something akin to the ancient days of the Lion's den going on, but found myself surprised that Obama could stand up there in front of those repubs and say what he said with a straight face. Maybe he really believes it, I don't know, but if he does, it would seem that is more dangerous than if it were just some Marx driven plan.

I have to agree with the Prof's, and Charles Martel's analysis. I found myself screaming at the radio before it was over, and changed the channel feeling the same way you do after you have just signed the papers for that 7 year old car, from the salesman in the loud sports jacket, knowing that you just paid too much for a piece of crap car that you just know will break down before you can pay it off.

Rhetoric is a skill and with some Obama seemed to have been superior in delivering his talking points, but the tell, already mentioned here, in the exchange with Rep. Henserling he faltered by dismissing the concern as "talking points" and not addressing the question at all. That speaks volumes.

In all, I don't think Obama lost in this, I think he set out to achieve what he wanted to achieve here. He bolstered his base that believes that he walks on water already, got himself some more face time on MSNBC, and told America that he was full steam ahead regardless of the losses it causes within his own party.

I wonder if Chris Matthews forgot he was black again?.....Hmmmmmm.:shock:


j-mac

 

[The Prof]

huffington---LOL!

how 'bout abc: "president obama: republicans portraying health care as 'bolshevik plot'"

President Obama to Address House GOP Conference, Push Bipartisanship - ABC News

reuters' lead in: "President Barack Obama on Friday engaged in a rare face-to-face showdown with Republican critics and testily accused them of trying to block his policies while urging them to "join with me" in creating jobs."

Obama, Republicans clash in unusual session | Reuters

and, once more, what's the testy one's agenda, post MA?

 

[j-mac]

once more, what's the testy one's agenda, post MA?

I think it is safe to say, that his agenda is that which has been spelled out by Saul Alenski. When faced with this type of adversity, step on the gas.


j-mac

 

[Zinc Route]

I watched a lot of the footage and was thrilled with how Obama carried himself. Wow. I have been feeling so blah about his presidency, and loved what I watched.

He knew his facts. He accepted fault with issues that have gone wrong. He blamed BOTH Democrats and Republicans for the tone in Washington. I didn't like how he interrupted some of the people who were asking him questions, but maybe he was getting defensive. Overall, I thought Obama shined. It was fascinating to watch.

***** That's WHY he did it. He wanted the photo op.

 

[Groucho]

Look, people -- it's all politics. Obama took a disadvantage and played it well, building up his base, looking Presidential and, along with a good SOTU speech, made a bit of a comeback after a bad week for Democrats otherwise.

Politics is theater these days, and has been for a while, certainly since Reagan. Sometimes image is more important than substance. It's sad but true. It certainly explains the popularity of not only Palin but also Obama to a lesser extent.

I agree that Obama ignored certain questions, dodged others, and changed the question to what he wanted to answer instead of necessarily what was asked of him. ALL good politicians do that. (Hell, all good lawyers do that.) Watch any good politician being interviewed on TV and see how often they really answer the question and how often they instead change the question to the talking points they want to make. This is true of both parties of course.

Is this good for democracy? Not really. But that's how the game is played these days. Political consultants on both sides know this.

You can't fault Obama for being able to play the game better than the other guys.

 

[Councilman]

The headline should have been "Obama Maintains His Amateur Status"

You can't spend a year cutting a group, even the opposition, out of akmist every discussion, bad them at every turn, take no responsibility for your own failures and missteps and then expect a sudden resh of cooperation when your foolishness finally catches up and you find that your playing the roll of dictator has brought you to the point that only more loses are in the foreseeable future if you don't start to learn from your own history.

Obam is lucky anyone but the Wacko Liberals will talk to him at all he's bungled everything except his lies and propaganda so far.

Personally I can say that as much as I disliked much of what Bush did Obama is the first in that Office for whom i have Zero respect, because of what he has done, tried and has proposed almost all of it Anti-American and in violation of his Oath.

 

[The Prof]

theater is very nice, if that's what you want

what's on the bill, since MA?

 

[reefedjib]

i have heard that fox news cut off the last 20 mins of this debate. Can anyone confirm or disprove this?

I believe that is correct.

Really?? That's pretty ****ty. That's the problem with getting political news on ideological stations, whether it is CNN, Fox, MSNBC, ABC or any other. Was it on CSPAN?

 

[American]

The GOP took the high road and took Obama up on his offer. I think they scored by having a discussion with Obama. Politically they can say they presented him with alternative policies, and now have a right to block everything he does that is outside their suggestions.

 

[Groucho]

Really?? That's pretty ****ty. That's the problem with getting political news on ideological stations, whether it is CNN, Fox, MSNBC, ABC or any other. Was it on CSPAN?

Think Progress Fox Cuts Away From Obama-GOP Conversation In Order To Get A Head Start On Attacks: He Was ‘Lecturing’

They explained it by saying that Obama was being too "combative" and "lecturing" and, since the people he was lecturing was the GOP, obviously Fox couldn't have that.

Why anyone thinks this is "fair" and "balanced" is beyond me.

 

[Charles Martel]

Sometimes image is more important than substance. It's sad but true.

When are those times? Where image is more imprtant than substance sometimes?

Dems...having just lost 3 fairly informative elections. New Jersey was a surprise, Corzine had a lot of money, the wide margin Virginia sweep not as surprising although the no contest results should have been telling. Now, a week after the Scott heard round the world, you're suggesting image rather than substance is called for? Or maybe I'm wrong.

It certainly explains the popularity of not only Palin but also Obama to a lesser extent.

I don't think the Left fears Palin's image.

I agree that Obama ignored certain questions, dodged others, and changed the question to what he wanted to answer instead of necessarily what was asked of him. ALL good politicians do that.

Groucho, oh what a difference a year makes. My memories of past battles during Bush's tenure certainly included ignoring, dodging, changing, what he wanted to question or answer, I shant remember you breaking our yer "ALL good politicians do that" policy back then. But, maye I'm wrong.:roll:

(Hell, all good lawyers do that.) Watch any good politician being interviewed on TV and see how often they really answer the question and how often they instead change the question to the talking points they want to make. This is true of both parties of course.

I...uh....I......don't really know what to say. I want to set a scenario, Groucho and I having our usual banter one evening say...two years ago...and I break this paragraph out in defense of a speech by W. Groucho.....a sharp and quick witted member....not shy whatsoever...would have inflamed my argument...stewed it...and handed it back to me. Please Sir, my ribs cannot take it any longer.:rofl

Is this good for democracy? Not really. But that's how the game is played these days. Political consultants on both sides know this.

Say what you will for consultants, members of talk forums didn't know this. Not until Jan 20, 2009. How the 'game is played' is a brand new concept for some of us, it was obvious this argument absent during the W years. I don't remember you ever giving him or Republican policies the "game is played" benefit of the doubt. But, maybe I'm wrong.

You can't fault Obama for being able to play the game better than the other guys.

Play the game of image over substance, no, not even your favorite Palin is anywhere near his ability to play that game, Groucho. We're gonna cede you that point, we cannot fault Obama for mastering the game, being elected President on image...and making policy concerned for image. But, can we ask about you and his supporters? May we ask when it just may be time for you to change your tune and realize it's much better to have substance than image. To convince your President...our President...that with war and national security and voter anger and what not, substance may very well need to be taken off your sidelines and put back on your 'game' board?