Evar:
Obama, by the way, holds the record for the most polarized first and second years in office, too. Which means Obama has set a record for polarization every year he’s been in office.
So now is as good a time as any to remind people one of the core claims made by Barack Obama during his presidential campaign wasn’t simply that he would heal the planet; he would also heal the nation’s political breach. He would elevate the national debate. Reason would prevail over emotion. He would do away with what he called the “50 plus one” style of governing. Obama would “turn the page” on the “old politics” of division and anger. He would end a politics that “breeds division and conflict and cynicism.” He would help us to “rediscover our bonds to each other and … get out of this constant petty bickering that’s come to characterize our politics.” He would “cast off the worn-out ideas and politics of the past.”
Yeah, he lied about lots of stuff. And the rubes bought it.
Well, he would be able to heal the political breach if those who disagree with him would just shut up and get with the program.
See? It’s not his fault.
The Democrats in general and Obama in particular act as if compromise only works in one direction. So long as the Republicans cave and give them what they want, the government works. When the Republicans have other ideas, that’s obstructionism.
I thought Lincoln was the most polarizing President.
Presumably they mean since they’ve been measuring such things with polls.
[[[Yeah, he lied about lots of stuff. And the rubes bought it.]]]
Yes, they sure did, which is why I voted for Senator McCain as the lesser of two evils.
Is Obama being so polarizing such a bad thing? If you had some me-too Republican like McCain as president, people would probably be more tractable and submissive to being nudged further down the Road to Serfdom; but with the Red Diaper Baby in the White House, people have been given a big wake-up call. Before Obama, the two presidents in my lifetime who (unintentionally, of course) did the most for the cause of liberty were Nixon and Carter by turning more and more people in a libertarian diurection. But Obama seems to have done that job even better than Tricky Dick and Mr. Peanutbrain.
Obama was totally wrong about the potential for less-partisan politics in Washington, and he’ll pay a political price for raising voters’ hopes.
In the longer run, people don’t care how polarizing a president was. The previous “most polarizing president ever,” Bill Clinton, is now viewed positively by 60% of Americans.
Obama wasn’t wrong: he never had the *slightest* interest in fixing partisan politics. His drones said as much when they talked about “ruling” in the first days of his regime; and he himself said as much with the:
“I won”
comment.
At this point in time, the Long Run is irrelevant. What is relevant is how people feel on the First Tuesday of this coming November.
Prediction: the next time that a Democrat takes office after a Republican, that President will be the new “most polarizing president ever.”