3 ms·

Obama tried to convince congressional Republicans to do an infrastructure bill for all eight years of his presidency. Republicans refused to even try to find co

Obama tried to convince congressional Republicans to do an infrastructure bill for all eight years of his presidency. Republicans refused to even try to find common ground. Obama talked about it a lot, too, during both of his campaigns.

lettergram 10y ago
Thats definitely true. However, there were things he could have done to try and fix it. For example, he passed Obamacare through without any regard for Republican thoughts. He could have done the same for infrastructure, in fact, i'd argue the infrastructure spending would have been more in line legally and he would have had less fighting.
- maxerickson 10y ago
  They did a $100 billion infrastructure package right at the start of the term, before ACA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvestment_Act_of_2009#Infrastructure_investment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvest...
- ForrestN 10y ago
  This is simply not accurate. The ACA is a deep, deep compromise compared to what liberals wanted, and was in fact largely modeled on the Republican plan crafted by Mitt Romney in Massachusetts. If Obama had crafted Obamacare without any regard for Republican thoughts, we would have government provided universal healthcare. The fact that obstructionist Republicans decided to oppose the bill in the end does not reflect the fact that it was passed after much consultation with the right and is, indeed, a compromise.
rhapsodic 10y ago
During the first two years of his presidency his party controlled both houses of Congress. He didn't need Republicans to get it done.
- dragonwriter 10y ago
  > During the first two years of his presidency his party controlled both houses of Congress. Not with the votes to break a Senate filibuster, but it's worth noting that something of an infrastructure bill was passed at that time (as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which also included non-infrastructure stimulus), with no Republican votes in the House and exactly the number (3) of Republican votes minimally necessary to break a filibuster in the Senate.

lettergram 10y ago

Thats definitely true. However, there were things he could have done to try and fix it. For example, he passed Obamacare through without any regard for Republican thoughts. He could have done the same for infrastructure, in fact, i'd argue the infrastructure spending would have been more in line legally and he would have had less fighting.

maxerickson 10y ago
They did a $100 billion infrastructure package right at the start of the term, before ACA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvestment_Act_of_2009#Infrastructure_investment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvest...
ForrestN 10y ago
This is simply not accurate. The ACA is a deep, deep compromise compared to what liberals wanted, and was in fact largely modeled on the Republican plan crafted by Mitt Romney in Massachusetts. If Obama had crafted Obamacare without any regard for Republican thoughts, we would have government provided universal healthcare. The fact that obstructionist Republicans decided to oppose the bill in the end does not reflect the fact that it was passed after much consultation with the right and is, indeed, a compromise.

rhapsodic 10y ago

During the first two years of his presidency his party controlled both houses of Congress. He didn't need Republicans to get it done.

dragonwriter 10y ago
> During the first two years of his presidency his party controlled both houses of Congress. Not with the votes to break a Senate filibuster, but it's worth noting that something of an infrastructure bill was passed at that time (as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which also included non-infrastructure stimulus), with no Republican votes in the House and exactly the number (3) of Republican votes minimally necessary to break a filibuster in the Senate.