PRESIDENT OBAMA'S news conference the day after the election. Unfortunately I don't see the gop and their tea-bagger allies, controlled by repiblicorp, working with the administration or for the common good of the nation for the next two years....Think this is just my disdain for the gop and tea-baggers...read sen mitch mcconnel's remarks to the heritage foundation on 4NOV10 below....
President Obama’s Press Conference: "Let's Find Those Areas Where We Can Agree"
In a news conference in the East Room this afternoon, the President spoke openly about the lessons of the previous night’s elections, and his hope for working with the new Congress going forward. He made clear that he understood the profound frustrations and anxiety around the economy felt by so many families, and pledged to redouble his efforts to work across the aisle to speed up our recovery and move the country forward:
I’m not suggesting this will be easy. I won’t pretend that we will be able to bridge every difference or solve every disagreement. There’s a reason we have two parties in this country, and both Democrats and Republicans have certain beliefs and certain principles that each feels cannot be compromised. But what I think the American people are expecting, and what we owe them, is to focus on those issues that affect their jobs, their security, and their future: reducing our deficit, promoting a clean energy economy, making sure that our children are the best educated in the world, making sure that we’re making the investments in technology that will allow us to keep our competitive edge in the global economy.
Because the most important contest we face is not the contest between Democrats and Republicans. In this century, the most important competition we face is between America and our economic competitors around the world. To win that competition, and to continue our economic leadership, we’re going to need to be strong and we’re going to need to be united.
None of the challenges we face lend themselves to simple solutions or bumper-sticker slogans. Nor are the answers found in any one particular philosophy or ideology. As I’ve said before, no person, no party, has a monopoly on wisdom. And that’s why I’m eager to hear good ideas wherever they come from, whoever proposes them. And that’s why I believe it’s important to have an honest and civil debate about the choices that we face. That’s why I want to engage both Democrats and Republicans in serious conversations about where we’re going as a nation.
And with so much at stake, what the American people don’t want from us, especially here in Washington, is to spend the next two years refighting the political battles of the last two. We just had a tough election. We will have another in 2012. I’m not so naïve as to think that everybody will put politics aside until then, but I do hope to make progress on the very serious problems facing us right now. And that’s going to require all of us, including me, to work harder at building consensus.
You know, a little over a month ago, we held a town hall meeting in Richmond, Virginia. And one of the most telling questions came from a small business owner who runs a tree care firm. He told me how hard he works and how busy he was; how he doesn’t have time to pay attention to all the back-and-forth in Washington. And he asked, is there hope for us returning to civility in our discourse, to a healthy legislative process, so as I strap on the boots again tomorrow, I know that you guys got it under control? It’s hard to have a faith in that right now, he said.
President Barack Obama holds a news conference in the East Room of the White House, November 3, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) I’m doing a whole lot of reflecting and I think that there are going to be areas in policy where we’re going to have to do a better job. I think that over the last two years, we have made a series of very tough decisions, but decisions that were right in terms of moving the country forward in an emergency situation where we had the risk of slipping into a second Great Depression.
But what is absolutely true is that with all that stuff coming at folks fast and furious -- a recovery package, what we had to do with respect to the banks, what we had to do with respect to the auto companies -- I think people started looking at all this and it felt as if government was getting much more intrusive into people’s lives than they were accustomed to.
Now, the reason was it was an emergency situation. But I think it’s understandable that folks said to themselves, you know, maybe this is the agenda, as opposed to a response to an emergency. And that’s something that I think everybody in the White House understood was a danger. We thought it was necessary, but I’m sympathetic to folks who looked at it and said this is looking like potential overreach.
In addition, there were a bunch of price tags that went with that. And so, even though these were emergency situations, people rightly said, gosh, we already have all this debt, we already have these big deficits; this is potentially going to compound it, and at what point are we going to get back to a situation where we’re doing what families all around the country do, which is make sure that if you spend something you know how to pay for it -- as opposed to racking up the credit card for the next generation.
And I think that the other thing that happened is that when I won election in 2008, one of the reasons I think that people were excited about the campaign was the prospect that we would change how business is done in Washington. And we were in such a hurry to get things done that we didn’t change how things got done. And I think that frustrated people.
Mitch McConnell: Dumping Obama In 2012 Is The Only Way To Achieve The GOP Agenda
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/04/mitch-mcconnell-heritage-health-care_n_778796.html?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=110410&utm_medium=email&utm_content=NewsEntry&utm_term=Daily+BriefSenate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) damped down expectations about the repeal of health care reform on Thursday, saying that the only way that goal can truly be achieved is if voters help get rid of President Obama in 2012.
McConnell stood by his recent comments that the "single most important thing" for the GOP to achieve in the new Congress is to make sure Obama doesn't get a second term.
"Over the past week, some have said it was indelicate of me to suggest that our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny President Obama a second term in office," McConnell will say at a speech to the conservative Heritage Foundation on Thursday at 11:00 a.m, according to his prepared remarks. "But the fact is, if our primary legislative goals are to repeal and replace the health spending bill; to end the bailouts; cut spending; and shrink the size and scope of government, the only way to do all these things it is to put someone in the White House who won't veto any of these things. We can hope the President will start listening to the electorate after Tuesday's election. But we can't plan on it."
McConnell added that Republicans will still nevertheless repeatedly propose and vote on straight repeal. "But we can't expect the president to sign it," he added. "So we'll also have to work, in the House, on denying funds for implementation, and, in the Senate, on votes against its most egregious provisions."
In his speech, McConnell also sent a warning to the Obama administration to be ready for constant investigations.
"Oversight will play a crucial role in Republican efforts going forward," he said in his prepared remarks, adding, "Through oversight we'll also keep a spotlight on the various agencies the administration will now use to advance through regulation what it can't through legislation."
In the House, Rep. Darrel Issa (R-Cali.) is likely to take over the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and aggressively use his newfound power to probe the administration. He has already gained praise in conservative circles for aggressively going after Obama on issues such as what offer the White House made Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) in an effort to persuade him to drop his Senate run.
No comments:
Post a Comment