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Ironically: Donald Trump. Obama's tenure as President was marked by a distinct attempt to meet the GOP as peers. It seems as though he was, mostly, a pretty st

Ironically: Donald Trump. Obama's tenure as President was marked by a distinct attempt to meet the GOP as peers. It seems as though he was, mostly, a pretty strong believer (philosophically) in co-governance by all representatives of the people of the US in the federal government. "Reach across the aisle" was a frequently-used phrase at that time. And if he unilaterally pardoned people legally convicted of marijuana offenses without Congress first changing the law, what kind of message would that send about the nature of executive power in the United States of America? His political peers responded by refusing to consider a Supreme Court nomination; supporting and nominating Donald Trump, whom voters then elected; and seating three Supreme Court justices, who then overturned precedent that had protected the reproductive rights of a generation and a half of Americans. Their party platform in 2020 was "That the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the President’s America-first agenda" with no other changes from the 2016 platform. No mention of policy; no mention of Congress. The modern Democratic party is under no illusions that reaching across the aisle will benefit them and is now in the tit-for-tat phase of the two-party prisoner's dilemma. If this move wins Biden's party votes going into the midterms, then forget Congress. If Congress wants a say in how the country is governed, they can get their act together and do the few structural changes that would un-deadlock the Senate and allow laws to be passed. I don't know if this is a strategy that would have worked during Obama's administration. I don't think Obama's strategies work in this era, though.

KerrAvon 4y ago
It could have worked. The problem always was that Obama was so enthralled with the concept of bipartisanship that he didn't listen to his opponents when they told the press *in 2009* that their only goal for the next four years was to destroy his presidency. So he always bent over for the Republicans, often sabotaging things like Obamacare by pre-negotiating with his own administration to remove things he thought the Republicans would dislike. Of course, the Republicans didn't care what he did. They were going to oppose everything they could get away with opposing. (Their voters did still expect some governance in those days, instead of the full-time vengeance mode they now expect.)
- acdha 4y ago
  I agree that he put far too much effort into bipartisanship but I do think some of that showed how successful all of the attacks on him as some kind of radical extremist were. He felt, probably not incorrectly, that there were a fairly large number of people who were willing to give him a chance but would potentially turn on him if he pushed quickly enough that the “radical black activist” attacks started to get traction. Contrast with Joe Biden, who is an old white guy with working class roots and half a century in politics with a solid, non-threatening track record. There’s almost nothing he could do which will get that many people to be like “I thought I knew him but not this”.

KerrAvon 4y ago

It could have worked. The problem always was that Obama was so enthralled with the concept of bipartisanship that he didn't listen to his opponents when they told the press *in 2009* that their only goal for the next four years was to destroy his presidency. So he always bent over for the Republicans, often sabotaging things like Obamacare by pre-negotiating with his own administration to remove things he thought the Republicans would dislike. Of course, the Republicans didn't care what he did. They were going to oppose everything they could get away with opposing. (Their voters did still expect some governance in those days, instead of the full-time vengeance mode they now expect.)

acdha 4y ago
I agree that he put far too much effort into bipartisanship but I do think some of that showed how successful all of the attacks on him as some kind of radical extremist were. He felt, probably not incorrectly, that there were a fairly large number of people who were willing to give him a chance but would potentially turn on him if he pushed quickly enough that the “radical black activist” attacks started to get traction. Contrast with Joe Biden, who is an old white guy with working class roots and half a century in politics with a solid, non-threatening track record. There’s almost nothing he could do which will get that many people to be like “I thought I knew him but not this”.