Originally Posted by
LA Ute
I think divided government is the best way to produce good policy. During the Reagan administration, he and Tip O’Neill managed to make some pretty good policy. During Clinton‘s administration, he faced a Republican majority in Congress for six of his eight years in office, just as Obama did. They still got a lot done. The difference was a willingness to work together and compromise. Reagan was willing to do that, and so was Clinton. Obama, I am sorry to say, as much as I admire him as a person, governed as a hard-core doctrinaire liberal who pretty much refused to work with the Republicans. The Republicans did not cover themselves in glory either, because they were unwilling to work with Obama. It is difficult to know exactly how to apportion the blame, but it is not all on the Republicans. I’m tempted to say it was 50-50.
The Freedom Caucus, especially during the Trump era, has been horrible, by the way. Like many Democrats, they would rather have an issue then a solution.
Obama is, despite his other fine characteristics, an arrogant person who believes he is right about everything. He lectured the country, and especially his opponents, all the time about the rectitude of his positions and the error of theirs. He attacked straw men repeatedly and made a mockery of honest political debate by doing so. He was a disaster as a leader, in terms of getting things done.
The ACA is probably the shining example of his failure as a leader. He rammed it through on a straight party line vote, just as a mayor of Chicago might steamroll his political opposition. The Medicare Act, by contrast, drew the votes of almost half of the Republicans in the U.S. Senate and the House, as did the Social Security Act in the 1930s. Both have endured for decades. That’s how strong social policy must be made. But we are still fighting about the ACA, and probably will be for years to come. That’s because of the way it was enacted.
Was it the Republicans’ fault that Obama couldn’t do that? Was it Obama’s fault? I think both are to blame, but in our system only the executive can really initiate compromise.