For years the GOP has been whining about how President Obama has not and will not compromise with them. They say he has shunned them from the beginning.
I would like to debunk that myth (one of many against our leader) with links to prove my points.
After President Obama was elected in 2008 in his acceptance speech he reached out to the opposition saying: "And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn -- I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your president too."
The president invited the GOP congressional leaders to a Super Bowl party at the White House in 2009, a month after he was inaugurated.
In 2011, he played golf with the GOP Speaker of the House, John Boehner.
After the 2010 election where Republicans swept the House and races statewide he acknowledged it was a "shellacking" and vowed to listen to the will of the American people.
In 2011, President Obama compromised on the budget prompting Speaker Boehner to say he was a happy man who got "98% of what he wanted."
In 2011 in the fight over the debt ceiling President Obama gave in to the GOP with their spending demands to prevent a worldwide credit crisis. He later said he would never make that mistake again. The United States' credit rating was downgraded by the whole incident.
In 2013, the president went to dinner with GOP Senators and Congressmen to discuss the deficit and other issues. All involved said it was productive and cordial.
President Obama in 2013 invited the Republicans to debate changes to the Affordable Care Act and most refused, deciding to try to repeal it again (now up to 50 times) and now they want to sue him for making those changes without their authorization.
So while the pundits on the right continue to accuse the president of not co-operating or engaging the Republicans, some of his supporters on the left have said he is too compromising.
In his recent 2014 State of the Union address, President Obama praised Speaker Boehner for his life story of working his way up from being a barkeep.
In short, President Obama has extended the hand of friendship to the GOP time after time, only to be rebuffed. It has gotten to the point now where anything the president says or does is condemned by the opposition.
When Speaker Boehner was interviewed on CBS by Leslie Stahl right after winning the Speakership he refused to even say the word "compromise" because he knew it would not go over well with some in his party.
So I hope this debunks this myth once and for all. Now the president is doing what he can with no co-operation or even civility from the Tea Party controlled Republicans and he is being threatened with a lawsuit by Speaker Boehner and the House.
Hopefully, the pubic will see this for the ruse and election year political stunt it is. I have to laugh though when I see Facebook pictures of our president playing a violin while DC is in flames behind him. "Fiddling while Rome is burning?" I thought he was supposed to be an Imperialist president who has abused his powers by signing too many Executive orders? Well, which is it? A do nothing executive or a too far reaching one? Make up your mind.
Well, now that Obamacare is no longer an issue, the GOP has to come up with something. But saying our president is not a compromiser is not the answer. Because it is a lie.