Why the GOP Won't Work With Obama: The Other Reason

http://www.theroot.com/views/other-reason-gop-wont-work-obama?page=0,1

The Root) -- With so many pundits declaring that President Barack Obama's second-term agenda is dead on arrival, you could be forgiven if you mistook the last few days for the first week of May ... 2009.

Back then, there was already angst that in Obama's first first 100 days, unemployment briefly spiked to 10 percent and the stock market tumbled into the 6,000s, and Republicans were complaining about the president's "apology tour" through Europe, his handshake with now deceased Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez at the Summit of the Americas and the enormity of the stimulus that economists now say was too small.

Oh, and let's not forget about those Somali pirates.

Fast-forward to 2013: The New York Times' Maureen Dowd is putting the onus on Obama for a "dunderheaded Congress" that won't "behave"; the Wall Street Journal's Daniel Henninger complains that in Syria, Obama is guilty of "presidential followership"; and the Washington Post's Dana Milbank has argued, "One hundred days into his second term, Obama has already lost control of the agenda," since he appears to have failed to single-handedly overcome a Republican filibuster of gun control legislation.

Never mind that gun control wasn't on the president's legislative agenda until December's tragic shooting in Newtown, Conn. -- and that he has yet to foreclose any of his options in Syria.

And never mind that at this point in Obama's first term, hardly anyone outside of Massachusetts had ever heard of Romneycare, and almost no one really believed deep down that we'd ever find and kill Osama bin Laden.

But from day 101 on, many of the goals of the Obama administration eventually came to pass.

Yes, he's had some notable setbacks on Capitol Hill in his second first 100 days, but as Obama himself said in his Wednesday press briefing, rumors of his demise are probably exaggerated.

Somehow, in between filibusters and rummaging around in the White House attic for his original long-form birth certificate, in his first term the president managed to bring the Iraq War to a dignified conclusion; chip away at unemployment -- that's still far too high, even at 7.5 percent; and, with the Federal Reserve's help, nurse the Dow Jones industrial average into the respectable 14,000s.

and all inspite of right wing keeping it's promise the only one by the way to do nothing to help him and by default "we the people".

It's fair to point out his flip-flops on gay marriage and Gitmo (landing both times, in my opinion, on the right position); and if, three years from now, there's no mortgage relief, we're still in Afghanistan and the labor force participation rate sits at 63.3 percent, then yes, Obama takes his share of the blame.

 But whether you accept conventional wisdom that he hasn't cracked enough congressional heads -- Lyndon Johnson style -- or you believe GOP Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania when he says that gun control was filibustered "because the president wanted to do it," when it comes to legislativegridlock, Obama has clearly had plenty of help from legislators.

Even though, of course, it doesn't have to be this way. Recall that right after Obama got "shellacked" in the 2010 midterms, he struck a win-win deal with Congress, caving on the Bush-era tax rates while getting in return the repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell," extended benefits for the long-term unemployed and an up-or-down vote on the DREAM Act (ultimately defeated).

This could have been the model for future negotiations between Obama and the GOP, right? No matter where you stand on the merits of the deal, it was a classic case in which both sides gave up something they didn't want in exchange for something they did want. That's proof they know how to negotiate, whether or not they'll do it anymore.

But then you further recall that initially, Republicans crowed and Democrats howled about that deal -- until the story changed, and Obama came out looking like the moderate man in the middle. Once that theme solidified, Republicans left the sandbox, took their toys and went home.

it's pretty clear why we are where we are some blame the Pres. but obstruction and the holders of the purse strings and the gerrymandering fraud detectives who can't find it when it's in their hip pocket are the ones who by any account pro or con are the ones that have put American lives on the back burner and turned off the gas. recognize.

until we replace the obstructionist with those that are about one country under God which means a third party to challenge that under 51% that we got, dispersing the right wing and taking back our lives we can fix the country after that, remembering Pres.'s 3 words will go a long way to achieving that goal, "YES WE CAN"!