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Obama had filibuster-proof majorities for his first two years (when they passed the ACA with only one republican house vote and none in the senate) then a split

Obama had filibuster-proof majorities for his first two years (when they passed the ACA with only one republican house vote and none in the senate) then a split congress for four. When measured by party control, Clinton, GHW Bush, and Reagan all faced more opposition in congress than Obama has.

bullfightonmars 10y ago
Obama and the Democrats had a filibuster proof majority of the Senate for something like 60 days. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/111th_United_States_Congress#Senate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/111th_United_States_Congress#S...
aioprisan 10y ago
None of the past administrations faced such partisan Congresses, they've only gotten more extreme over the years.
- ktRolster 10y ago
  None of the past administrations faced such partisan Congresses, This is unthinking lack of research. You only need to go back to Clinton to find a congress that vociferously was against him, to the point they impeached him. Clinton handled it because he was very good at handling compromise and the politics game.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - MisterBastahrd 10y ago
    The current Congress is the mentally unhinged bastard stepchild of that one.
    - ktRolster 10y ago
      If you look at the Newt, he was more insane by an order of magnitude than Ryan.
      - aioprisan 10y ago
        I highly doubt that. And there was no tea party back then.
  - nikdaheratik 10y ago
    Or maybe it's from someone who actually has paid attention to what is happening in Congress. I've read several blogs from political scientists (Jonathan Bernstein, for example) who have pointed out exactly how obstructionist the GOP controlled Congress was compared to other situations with split government. Just hitting the highlights: the Senate for 6 out of 8 years has routinely refused to confirm justices, including at the SC level, and refused to confirm administration officials both via filibuster threats from the GOP. Through the House, they've actually shut down the government multiple times (Newt only tried this once, and it backfired badly) and they've threatened to default on all government debt, which is completely unprecedented. And all of this was driven by the GOP. That you can even compare this to 2 years of partial obstruction under Clinton shows how little attention you actually have paid to this. [Edit] Here's an example article that describes the situation just three years ago: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/05/13/you-want-a-scandal-heres-a-scandal/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/05/13...

bullfightonmars 10y ago

Obama and the Democrats had a filibuster proof majority of the Senate for something like 60 days. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/111th_United_States_Congress#Senate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/111th_United_States_Congress#S...

aioprisan 10y ago

None of the past administrations faced such partisan Congresses, they've only gotten more extreme over the years.

ktRolster 10y ago
None of the past administrations faced such partisan Congresses, This is unthinking lack of research. You only need to go back to Clinton to find a congress that vociferously was against him, to the point they impeached him. Clinton handled it because he was very good at handling compromise and the politics game.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- MisterBastahrd 10y ago
  The current Congress is the mentally unhinged bastard stepchild of that one.
  - ktRolster 10y ago
    If you look at the Newt, he was more insane by an order of magnitude than Ryan.
    - aioprisan 10y ago
      I highly doubt that. And there was no tea party back then.
- nikdaheratik 10y ago
  Or maybe it's from someone who actually has paid attention to what is happening in Congress. I've read several blogs from political scientists (Jonathan Bernstein, for example) who have pointed out exactly how obstructionist the GOP controlled Congress was compared to other situations with split government. Just hitting the highlights: the Senate for 6 out of 8 years has routinely refused to confirm justices, including at the SC level, and refused to confirm administration officials both via filibuster threats from the GOP. Through the House, they've actually shut down the government multiple times (Newt only tried this once, and it backfired badly) and they've threatened to default on all government debt, which is completely unprecedented. And all of this was driven by the GOP. That you can even compare this to 2 years of partial obstruction under Clinton shows how little attention you actually have paid to this. [Edit] Here's an example article that describes the situation just three years ago: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/05/13/you-want-a-scandal-heres-a-scandal/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/05/13...