I pains me to hear President Obama have to overtly tout his achievements. On day one he faced a wall of, frankly, racially based obstruction. A world economy facing potential meltdown. He persevered. He stayed positive. He wasn’t perfect, but he respected and enhanced our institutions and historic alliances. He acted out of plausible ideals and credible values. He stated he wanted to be a president for all Americans. History will be more than kind to him, and I suspect, he is not done yet.
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This conversation is an interesting analysis of the current hyper-partisanship and its causes. I would have preferred that these two had turned to a discussion of possible solutions, rather than lamenting the good old days.
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As long as Mitch McConnell is running everything, the only “bipartisan” anything that will get done is whatever the McConnell and his Trump enabling GOP want.
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We need more polite, respectful discourse, such as this was. We've allowed the fringes to drive the conversation, and that is not where most of us reside. I am an independent, centrist, moderate - center-left socially, center-right fiscally. I believe most of us are somewhere near that. What family does not have a gay member? What family favors exploding deficits for our children and grandchildren? Too many for-profit, false patriots are pushing the conversation. We live together, work together, worship together, our kids go to school together. We need to set aside the loud, divisive voices profiting from division, and embrace one another.
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Kind of funny that Obama laments something he never had: consensus and bipartisanship. McConnell and company vowing to keep him to 1 term.
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@MB,
For further clarification, Obama in his role of President represented not only himself, but the well-being of our Country and its People.
In view of the ongoing anger, resentment and venom to be found in some of these comments, let us prepare for The New American Order, and bid farewell to the Pioneers.
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'Starting in early January, "Face America" will be aired on Sunday mornings with former President Obama hosting this new program, and inviting a guest to join him in deliberating our current state of affairs and the future of our Nation'.
Alas, this is 'fake news', but one can always make a wish that a channel from A to Z, might give this some consideration, while asking Mr. Obama for an opinion.
"2020", nothing ventured, nothing gained, it might offer the viewers in the public forum a breath of 'woke' air, some highlights of the week in review, a sense of direction of where our Country is headed, and an opportunity to inform the next candidates for the Presidency of what Americans feel needs to be addressed.
Fox News would bumble along as always with high ratings, placing its viewers to sleep on another planet, and not feel threatened.
The New York Times, in turn, could invite its readership to share their thoughts on this new Sunday morning program, in the spirit of bipartisanship with a rich variety of differing views.
Let's try it and we might like it.
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One of the paradoxes of Obama's tenure, to be better assessed with the informed detachment of future historians not yet born, is how someone who was elected giving lengthy (so long!) speeches about inclusion and togetherness became such a polarizing figure. One narrative is the easy one - that anyone who hated/hates Obama was/is just stupid and mean. But like so many too-convenient theories, that's probably wide of the mark. The truth - and there is still such a thing as "truth," even in these flexible alternate facts times - is more complicated. An example is the plight of coal mining country. Generations of coal families gave their toil, lives and limbs to fuel our industrial revolution and make us into a mighty economic power. The Obama message to them was "Thanks, but now go get a solar technician certificate and try to find a green job." Not a good look. Their anger and frustration was not unreasonable. Likewise Obama embraced the regulatory state mantra that government always knows best. That did not play well with small business owners who felt hounded by an alphabet soup of government agencies. The list goes on. What does it all mean? We'll have to wait a while for that historical verdict. Meanwhile we have quite a mess to deal with.
A moment rich with irony given Baker's hard-edged partisan efforts intended to install George W. Bush as President, during the Bush-Gore debacle.
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The man who Republicans tried to make a one-term president says Democrats should work more closely with the Republicans.
Only in America, folks.
Obama is just so great -- a brilliant man of integrity!
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It would be ironic if it wasn't so sad that just after Obama talks about the need to agree on facts, Baker states the falsehood that Reagan paid for his tax reform. The debt tripled under him. And worse than that,Reagan's affable popularity set the stage for all of the future disastrous Republican tax cuts. As Cheney said, Reagan proved that deficits don't matter.
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The worse of Trump is his lack of respect for tradition and it’s values. If Trump was an enlightened participant perhaps his attitudes about government would be tolerable. As it is he just brings and accentuates divisiveness. These days, we need Cohesiveness.
2
It is sad funny to see so many lecture in the comments on bipartisanship and then bash the side they do not like as part of their so-called argument. Grow up folks.
Secondly, how many TV news outlets did we have back in Mr. Baker's time? How many oddball sources of news did we have - as in Breitbart News, Daily Caller, Daily Kos, NewsMax, that lunatic who screams and was invited by Trump to the WH, etc etc...?
The problem actually starts with the media folks. The responsibility is still with the candidates, politicians and voters, but the problem starts with the nature of the conversation and it falls right in the lap of the media. As evidence just look at the coverage of the 2016 election. And feel free to weep.
1
My lord I hope we can get back to the point where people of integrity and intelligence like Obama and Baker run the country.
The good old days.
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Great. Obama just compared Rachel Maddow to Sean Hannity and Fox and Friends. Good for him.
Perhaps he didn't notice that his agenda only passed due to the presumably partisan efforts of people like Nancy Pelosi, who had to rely on Democrats to vote on the ACA - the second time on legislation that had gotten through the Senate after endless futile attempts to engage Republicans, thanks to the likes of Democrats like Ted Kennedy. Perhaps Obama takes solace in the fact that his popularity was more bipartisan than that of Pelosi or Kennedy.
Unfortunately, that support did not extend to support of his agenda, as evidenced as early as the election of Scott Brown in the special election in MA, the continued loss of Democratic seats while he was in office, and the rejection of his chosen successor, Hillary Clinton.
Perhaps Obama should realize that sometimes it's more important to let people know what you stand for and why you believe it's the right thing to do - even if it draws the enmity of your opponents.
1
When Ted Cruz gave his victory speech after defeating Beto O’Rourke, he took a moment to commend O’Rourke for a well-fought campaign, to which his audience booed. Cruz, to his credit, reminded his supporters that O’Rourke took a great deal of time away from his family to travel the entire state and campaign hard for that election. And during the campaign, O’Rourke forcefully condemned those who harassed Cruz and his wife in a restaurant. The fact is we complain about a lack of bipartisanship and bad blood in Congress but the problem is really is, the voters. The grown-ups need to take command of the conversation everywhere, not just in DC.
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It's this consensus of well-mannered liars -- with yes, significant policy differences -- which gave us Trump.
That they all love each other now doesn't tell you the contest was always fake?
"Free trade", "entitlement" cuts, aggressive wars, regulatory capture, active promotion of income inequality -- these two, with Jon "we're a center right country" Meacham in the middle is the best explanation for Trump anyone could wish.
Their performances don't play any longer, outside their own small circles, but that doesn't seem to discourage them. They all love that microphone.
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@jrd - small circles? I'd say there's a pretty wide circle for at least Obama.
2
Can you be nostalgic for something that ended a mere two years ago?
You know, when grown-ups were in charge not petulant toddlers?
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While reporting Baker's recall of the idyllic days of Reagan when Republicans were responsible and "didn't jack up the budget deficit", it might have been worth reporting that Reagan, like all Republican presidents after him and unlike the Democratic presidents before and after him, did in fact jack up the deficit, with the national debt roughly doubling while he was in office. For example, see http://www.exponentialimprovement.com/cms/uploads/1/deficittogdppctwevents_001.jpg
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Mr. Baker was from a different time and practiced bipartisanship as a normal step in the legislative process.
I have great respect for Mr. Obama but he simply talked about bipartisanship when it suited his needs, or until it became difficult.
There are only a few people that are capable of providing the kind of leadership that brings people together. Biden could probably do that (and could have defeated Trump), John Kasich is certainly another. I'm hoping Democrats understand that there are many moderate voters that desperately want Trump gone, and did in 2016.
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@David
Just a small correction - most people seem to have a poor recollection of what happened from 2009-2016, and some of it is Obama's fault for letting others define his term. He is now attempting to set the record when it is a bit late.
But as far as bipartisanship is concerned an honest newsmedia would have highlighted how there were two factions in the Republican party which could never work with each other or anyone else. You had Boehner negotiating with Obama over the budget, and Obama gave in quite a lot to Boehner's demands, and I am sure he got some concessions too. While they were winding up on an agreement, it turns out Boehner had not informed his "caucus" about the talks, and they came up with a much weaker set of demands putting Obama in a spot. Does he give away more because Boehner had spent the time on it, or does he take the better deal on the table? It ended up in chaos and recriminations.
The Democrats fight like cats all the time. They are too friendly with journalists and talk too much too openly. But when it comes time to vote they are a disciplined bunch taking the job seriously enough. But the Republicans are a broken party with anger and rage as their fuel. You cannot solve problems since they make the rage and anger go away. That is why they have not fixed anything - even now with Gorsuch and Kavanaugh they will not overturn Roe v Wade since they would lose a wedge issue. They like the drama and discontent. Not bipartisanship material.
1
It really bugs me when MSNBC is equated with FOX News as Mr. Baker did here. MSNBC works in facts and does not actively promote or collude with any politicians. Most of their guests are respected members of the establishment (Prosecuters, FBI professionals, politicians of both parties, former government employees (many with the Obama administration). Fox on the other hand is fringe all the way.
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@Susan I agree. MSNBC does cheerlead, but it also provides vetted information. And unlike CNN, doesn't feel compelled to give right wing apparatchiks an "equal" platform. Of course, most honest conservatives now are also never-Trumpers. Among whom, discreetly, is probably James Baker.
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@Susan
This is nonsense; it contributes to the polarization that Obama and Baker decry; and it feeds the liberal misapprehension that they deal in "facts" while the other guys deal in lies. From the latter notion, embraced at various times by all parts of the political spectrum, much damage has come.
Fox brings on numerous "respected members of the establishment", unless you circularly define "respected" by reference to adherence to liberal views. And since when does the left promote respect for "the establishment"?
@Dennis Personally, I think MSNBC is where the smart people go, but I am a regular viewer.
2
I have no interest in sentimentalizing the good old days when politics worked.
In the modern era our system has always been corrupt.
We are fast becoming an oligarch. The 2016 Presidential election cost about 5 Billon Dollars!!!!! I'm sure 2020 will surpass that.
But it's not just money. Technology is likely an even bigger problem. It takes many years for society as a whole to catch up to advancing technology. And often the masses are the ones most effected. Because technology is accelerating at an unhealthy rate, humans may not be able to keep up. No one seems to realize that much of the information that is being shoved down our throats is nothing more than GroupThink. Just because Rachel Maddow or Sean Hannity tells you something it does not mean it's a fact. Cable News is in business attracting viewers so they can accrue the almighty advertising buck. The Truth? Not if it's not cost effective my friend.
Having precious talks with politicians about fixing our massive societal ills is as helpful as suggesting not to put your hand over a fire. Thanks so much Barry for letting us know what a bad situation we're in. I do hope it doesn't effect your summers on Martha's Vineyard.
6
There is the right and they are the party of Trump and there is the centrists who work for corporations. The left is gone and so the word bipartisan is meaningless since there is only one party and then the fringe right. The ACA was a republican policy. It did insure more people but assured wealth for corporations that sell insurance and treat the sick. Profiting off the sick is a bit immoral regardless of whether the leaders agreed that it was okay. We fear for the future of corporations and bail them out even as we vilify individuals who receive welfare. And when corporate leaders are criminals we give them a pass while low level potheads are put in prison for life. There is nothing bipartisan in any of this.
8
Obama talking about ‘bipartisan consensus?
That’s the same Obama who cried for years about gridlock because the GOP would not go along, same dude right?
If Obama cares about the Democrats having a chance in 2020, he should pack it up, move someplace far in the mid west and wait out the storm. The more he talks the more red solidifies.
There has never been a president more divisive than him.
Let’s face it, many many folks voted Trump just to get back at Obama.
And every time he is given a platform to criticize what is going on, he irks more people and sends them right to red’s ranks.
Obama, Hillary and their kind, there’ the door, go fishing or something, but GET OFF THE LIMELIGHT!
7
It wasn’t Obama who was divisive: it was Mitch McConnell, the malicious Birthers, the Tea Party extremists, the vitriolic fact-denying flame-throwers at Fox, and the barely latent racists of the right who were divisive. And now we’re cursed with (and by) the most divisive hate-mongering President in American history. Obama was a cautious moderate who was pilloried by the rabid right for having successfully advanced a thoroughly Republican piece of healthcare legislation through a Congress dominated for most of his tenure by members of the Republic Party who vowed not to allow him any more successes, no matter how rational his policies. And Fox (FauxNoise) has admitted that it let Trump’s White House preview and pre-approve some of the questions it planned to use in interviews with Trump officials and some of the commentaries its shrieking heads planned to read on air. One final reflection of Trump’s inherent devisiveness is the fact that unlike other politicians and presidents he never speaks in a normal voice: he always screams. Only Melania knows if he ever speaks in measured tone.
2
"He noted that Mr. Reagan worked with Democrats to overhaul the tax code while paying for it — unlike Mr. Trump’s $1.5 trillion tax cut financed by deficits. “It was a true tax reform,” he said. “It didn’t jack up the budget deficit.”"
Wow, seriously? Deficits were massive under and following the Reagan tax cuts. We ran a surplus under Clinton and plunged back into deficit spending under Bush II. Obama inherited the worst economy since the Depression and ran even deeper deficits during the recovery. Supply-siders are now at it again under Trump. It doesn't work, folks!
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@RDB
And that's where you're wrong. Supply side economics works BEAUTIFULLY, for those on the supply side. Stop ignoring the obvious.
While the GOP is horrible the democrat party is no stranger to pay to play lobbyists.
WAKE UP PEOPLE!
1
@RDB, Actually, Bush 1 deserves some credit - when he saw the state of the federal finances, he raised taxes - and the right never let him forget it. Clinton benefited from that when took office, and then, yes, went on to create policies to create the surplus.
4
This trump character is bad news. Furthermore, in my opinion, he should be forced to resign, or be removed from office.
5
Mr. Obama certainly deserves high praise for his calling for consensus, rather than revenge. It was he, more than any prior president, who experienced the worst kind of partisan politics, starting with Mitch McConnell's desire to make Obama a one term president, and ending with McConnell's (again) refusal to allow Mr. Obama to choose a Supreme Court nominee.
Man, do I wish we had Obama back!!
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I believe the only way that can happen is via time machine. TG
Attention: grownups speaking!
9
Former Pres. Obama takes no responsiblity for the sharp deterioration of civic life in America during his 2 terms of office. Nor supporting Ms. Clinton as “the best prepared candidate for President in our history”.
Maybe some more introspection by our distinguished former President is needed. And reflection on whether the deterioration would have been as virulent if the troubled Ms. Clinton had been elected.
Is it really the case that America’s dramatically altered civic discourse is solely caused by Pres. Trump. History suggests otherwise.
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@Peter I Berman
You are correct, sir. Newt Gingrich, Lee Atwater, MITCH McCONNELL and his insufferable quest in making Obama a one-term president via obstruction, amongst other factors, should be considered as well.
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@Peter I Berman You have GOT to be joking. You don't have to agree with his policy positions, but to even suggest that Obama's tone and words in his eight years in office inflamed our civic discourse is so off-base as to be laughable. Obama's "contribution" to our hateful national discourse is that he has the temerity to be a Black man. That was clearly too much for some Americans to handle.
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@Peter I Berman
You're whining, man. Get over it. The "sharp deterioration in civic life" was outright racism.
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