There is a meme quickly developing in the media chastising President Obama for his so-called failure to "sit down" or "meet" or "cooperate" with Republicans in Congress during these fiscal cliff negotiations.
Joe Scarborough of MSNBC's Morning Joe went on another tirade this morning about how President Obama "can't seem to get along" with Republicans in Congress. I even heard Andrea Mitchell on her MSNBC show question why President Obama does not invite John Boehner and the Republicans to Camp David for talks on the fiscal cliff. Many have asked why doesn't Obama have a "happy hour" and invite the Republicans over for drinks? Really, are we that dim?
Well I have news for all of those in the media with these constant selective memory loops, President Obama spent the better part of the first three (3) years of his presidency trying to "cooperate" and "sit down" with these Republicans and was constantly slapped down and rebuffed.
Let's recap shall we:
A New York Times article from February 2009 titled, "Obama Woos GOP With Attention and Cookies" states:
Since the inauguration, one of the hottest tickets in town has been an invitation to the White House. And Republicans have been scoring them nearly as often as Democrats. The president has held a cocktail reception for a bipartisan group of legislators, conducted sit-down meetings with House and Senate leaders of both parties and staged an indoor tailgate party Sunday to watch the Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Arizona Cardinals.
This selective memory gap with our illustrious media is really beginning to chafe my butt! President Obama has taken major heat for years from members of his own party and is constantly being strung up by liberals and progressives on the left for being "too accommodating" and trying "too hard" to cooperate with Republicans and NOW everyone is asking why doesn't President Obama TRY HARDER?? REALLY?!
And what does sitting in a room having drinks with Boehner help if Boehner can't deliver? If you'll recall (as I'm sure Obama does), Obama and Boehner sat in a room together a couple of years ago during the debt ceiling debates and worked hard to hammer out a deal that both thought was fair and then Boehner completely reneged when he got back to the House and was immediately rebuffed by the Tea Party members of his caucus. Remember that?
And one more thing. Let's not forget that many of these Republicans were the same ones who had a meeting the very night of President Obama's inauguration in 2009 to strategize on how to defeat him and pledged that they WOULD NOT cooperate with him on ANYTHING!! Mind you this was before Obama had passed any legislation or signed one bill. Before President Obama even opened his mouth they had already decided that they did not like him, they would not work with him and they wanted him out of office! Now, how in the hell do you "cooperate" with that?!
President Obama has tried from DAY ONE to forge a bipartisan atmosphere and get along with Republicans in Congress and at almost every turn he has been rebuffed and disrespected. People on the right are more interested in his Kenyan birth or his college transcripts or falsely blaming Holder for Fast and Furious or concocting conspiracy theories about Solyndra or getting to the bottom of how UN Ambassador Rice somehow managed to personally set fire to the U.S. embassy in Benghazi.
People on the right simply do not want to work with him. See, that might make Rush Limbaugh or Grover Norquist upset... and we can't have that can we? So please stop giving me this hogwash about how BOTH sides are doing it and President Obama should be the LEADER and try harder to work with Republicans, because guess what... he's been there, done that! Now, let the Republicans try it for awhile!
Respectfully,
Dee Evans