The Master of Petty Politics Decries Petty Politics

President Obama finally decided to take some questions from the White House press corps today. Now that he’s unable to ram his agenda through because the Senate Democrats lost their 60th vote, he’s “reaching out” to the other side.

NYT The Caucus: President Obama declared today that “a sense of purpose that transcends petty politics” must be forged by Democrats and Republicans to create more jobs, reduce the deficit and find at least some common ground on health care.

“We can’t afford grandstanding at the expense of actually getting something done,” Mr. Obama said as he made a surprise appearance at the daily White House briefing for the media only hours after he convened his first monthly bipartisan meeting he called for in the State of the Union address.

The president praised Republican leaders for coming to the White House on a snowy day in Washington. He said the meeting went so well that Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic leader, and Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, were “out doing snow angels together on the South Lawn.”

But his laughter gave way to a forceful message, saying that bipartisanship was a two-way street and neither side – including Democrats – could get their way. He said there needed to be at least some cooperation, but he offered no specific path for the legislative way forward.

“Bipartisan can’t be that I agree to all the things that they believe in or want and they agree to none of the things that I want,” Mr. Obama said.

The article went on to note that the impromptu press conference was Obama’s way of getting the last word. Gee, that’s not petty. And speaking of petty, he didn’t exactly portray what really went on in the meeting.

The Plum Line: At the private White House meeting today between Obama and Congressional leaders, the President and John Boehner got into a testy exchange, aides say, with Obama charging that the GOP is just out to kill all his initiatives.

According to aides familiar with the discussion, Boehner made the case that long-term concern over Dem policies — health care, cap and trade — was leading to uncertainty in the private sector, damaging job creation efforts. Boehner said the only way to get the economy moving again is to put these issues behind us.

That apparently irked the President, aides say, who accused Boehner of just wanting to kill all his initiatives. Boehner shot back that this was false, that Republicans are serious about bipartisan cooperation.

That prompted the President to push back again, aides say, arguing that the White House isn’t getting enough credit for the part of the stimulus that boosts federal funding for state Medicaid programs, arguing it has had a positive effect on the economy.

Hey sounds like a little kid who didn’t get his way.

I think we’re way beyond bipartisanship. Most Americans, and most Republicans believe his policies are wrong. That’s not politics, it’s good judgment. It isn’t petty partisanship to oppose massive spending, massive debt, tax increases, civilian trials for enemy combatants, unconstitutional health care mandates, card check, or cap and trade. If it was politics alone he would have passed his entire agenda when he had the votes. But he still doesn’t get it. He thinks he just hasn’t explained himself well enough for the illiterate masses and Republicans.

“All I can do is just to keep on making the argument about what’s right for the country and assume that over time people, regardless of party, regardless of their particular political positions, are going to gravitate toward the truth,” he said.

Here we go again, tell a lie often enough and eventually people will believe it to be the truth.

More reaction to Obama’s comments can be found here.