Uber-divisive President Calls For Civility In Politics

This is not a repeat of a post from the other day. This is Obama’s weekly address

(The Hill) President Obama is pushing for greater civility in politics while acknowledging the harsh rhetoric that has so far dominated political discourse in the final year of his presidency.

“My faith in the generosity and fundamental goodness of the American people is rewarded every day. But I’ll be the first to admit that the tone of our politics hasn’t gotten better, but worse,” Obama said in his weekly address taped during a visit to the Illinois State Senate and released Saturday.

Nowhere within his pity party does he admit that he is very much to blame for quite a bit of the escalating nasty discourse. Remember, this is a man who insulted Americans as “bitter clingers”. Called American businesses soft and lazy. Attacked the religious leanings of people who were against his contraception mandate. Insulted the Supreme Court multiple times, including to their faces during a State Of The Union. Who has consistently insulted Republican voters as he attacked Republicans in the House and Senate. Who said “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.” Who yammered on about using his pen and phone, despite rarely reaching out to Congress, including people in his own party. His refusal to negotiate on almost everything. “You didn’t build that.” Calling serious issues, such as Fast and Furious, the VA scandal, and Benghazi “phony scandals.” The list could continue on and on. The man is utterly divisive. When George Bush said “your either with them, or your with us”, he was talking about the fight against Islamic terrorists. When Obama says it, the “them” means Americans who have different political beliefs.

How does he intend to fix this problem that, in his mind, is only caused by Other People?

“The good news is there’s also a lot we can do about this, from reducing the influence of money in our politics, to changing the way we draw congressional districts, to simply changing the way we treat each other,” the president added.

Self awareness of his own roll in incivility is certainly not something he suffers from.

Nine years after I first announced for this office, I still believe in a politics of hope. And for all the challenges of a changing world; for all the imperfections of our democracy; choosing a politics of hope is something that’s entirely up to each of us.

So, why did he not choose to engage in the politics of hope himself?

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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4 Responses to “Uber-divisive President Calls For Civility In Politics”

  1. Jeffery says:

    “You lie!” – Joe Wilson (R-CSA)

    Extremist Republicans are the problem according to two conservative writers (pretty sure they’ve been kicked out of the conservative cult by now, or more accurately, conservative extremism has left them behind). They are resident scholars at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. Here’s a partial list of present and former AEI scholars: John R. Bolton, Lynne Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Michael Barone, Jonah Goldberg, Phil Gramm, Steven F. Hayward, Glenn Hubbard, Frederick Kagan, Leon Kass, Jon Kyl, Charles Murray, Jim Talent, President Gerald Ford, Robert Bork, Dick Cheney, Dinesh D’Souza, Milton Friedman, David Frum, David Gergen, Newt Gingrich,Jeane Kirkpatrick, Irving Kristol, Michael Ledeen, Michael Novak, Richard Perle, Antonin Scalia, Ben Wattenberg, and James Q. Wilson.

    Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann Explain Why Congress is Failing Us

    April 26, 2013

    Political scholars Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann tell Bill (Moyers) that Congress’ failure to make progress on gun control last week — despite support for background checks from 90 percent of the American public — is symptomatic of a legislative branch reduced to dysfunction, partisan ravings and obstruction.

    A year ago, the two — who had strong reputations as non-partisan analysts – decided to speak truth to power with their book It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism. In it, they argue that congressional gridlock is mostly the fault of right wing radicals within the Republican Party who engage in “policy hostage-taking” to extend their political war against the president.

    What’s more, Ornstein and Mann say, the mainstream media and media fact-checkers add to the problem by indulging in “false equivalency” — pretending both parties are equally to blame.

    “Sadly, divided party government, which we have because of the Republican House, in a time of extreme partisan polarization, is a formula for inaction and absolutist opposition politics, not for problem solving,” Mann tells Bill.

    Ornstein says, “Some of this is coming from the kinds of people who we’re electing to office, through a nominating process that has gotten so skewed to the radical right. But some of it is an electoral magnet that pulls them away from voting for anything that might have a patina of bipartisan support because they’ll face extinction.”

  2. John says:

    Teach you sound a bit jealous that the Dems have such a leader
    Aren’t you always putting down “moderates” in your own party?
    Those squishy Rinos who are willing to compromise with the demonized Dems?
    Obama won twice
    Americans elected him to lead our country
    How conciliatory should Obama be when people like yourself refuse compromise on “conservative” core values?
    Who exactly is supposed to compromise the most the majority party which elected the POTUS? Or the party which holds Congress?
    And Teach take a look at the impacts in your own state of NC
    A former red state now deep purple
    The party split there is now just about 50/50 but somehow this split has given the GOP 75% of the US House reps
    Was this through gerrymandering ? Or that phantom “voter fraud” you are always talking about but never actually being able to show real examples of?
    Hey how about an update on the “35000 NC possibly fraud votes by people on multi state voter roles”

  3. Hoss says:

    All that hopey-changey stuff was just red meat for the folks with white-guilt and squishies yearning for “the one we’ve been waiting for” and “a different kind of politician”…hard to type that without puking up a little. Obama is a strident ideologue; there’s never been anything to suggest he’s into reaching across the aisle other than to lop someone’s arm off.

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