President Obama must be having the best week ever and he really needed it. This week, he announced his plan to cut $33 billion in taxes for small businesses. The US economy saw a 5.7% increase in GDP, exceeding the expectations of median forecasts. Although the State of the Union Address didn’t touch on the issue of national security as much as many would have liked, Obama appeared to be keenly focused on the economy and job growth.
President Obama took a big risk on Jan. 29 by meeting with the Republicans at the GOP Issues Retreat. The bold move resulted in an unprecedented amount of transparency, as Obama fielded questions from the caucus members in attendance. It appeared as though Obama was making a sincere step towards reaching across the aisle.
“You’ve given yourselves very little room to work in a bipartisan fashion because what you’ve been telling your constituents is, this guy is doing all kinds of crazy stuff that’s going to destroy America,” Obama said. This is precisely what was on the mind of many Americans turned off by the poor performance of both parties.
“I don’t think they want more gridlock. I don’t think they want more partisanship. I don’t think they want more obstruction. They didn’t send us to Washington to fight each other in some sort of political steel cage match to see who comes out alive. That’s not what they want. They sent us to Washington to work together, to get things done, and to solve the problems that they’re grappling with every single day.” Obama could not have been more on target with this statement. It’s perfectly reasonable to expect that an elected official be productive while in office.
This is an incredible address to the caucus members and it was much-needed. It would be extremely beneficial for Obama to bring his own party together in a similar (televised) fashion. It would be great to see him discuss the lack of bipartisan effort and other issues that the Democrats are also struggling with (like infighting). It’s an uphill battle to change the tone of Washington, with this being an election year and all, but this must be done. More transparency and a stronger bipartisan effort are both lofty goals, but both can definitely be achieved.
