When It Comes To Obama, Republicans Are Like A Less Cooperative Russia - Polidicks

[quote=Fresh Air on NPR][b]GROSS:[/b] This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. Let's get back to the interview I recorded yesterday with Michael Lewis about his article "Obama's Way," in the October issue of Vanity Fair. Lewis was given unusual access to the president in the White House and on his travels and was granted several interviews. Lewis is also the author of the bestsellers "Moneyball," "The Big Short" and "Liar's Poker." His book "Boomerang," about the global financial crisis, has just been published in paperback. One of the things you talked to President Obama about was what it was like to be opposed every step of the way politically by Republicans in the House and the Senate. And he tells you that he underestimated how little it would cost Republicans politically to oppose ideas they had once advocated, and to oppose them now merely because Obama supported them. What else did he have to tell you about the opposition that he continues to face politically? [b]LEWIS:[/b] Well, when we - the way we got onto the subject, actually, is I was talking to him about the powers of the modern presidency. On the one hand, he has these godlike powers to go save whole cities in Libya. On the other hand, when he gets up and talks, nobody listens anymore. And I was talking to him about the bully pulpit. You know, there is a school of thought that argues that the president's chief source of power is the bully pulpit. And he was saying the bully pulpit's broken. It's not what it was. It's broken and fractured because of the nature of the media climate that we operate in, and it's broken in part because of the attitude of the opposition to me, as he put it. And his point was that if he gets up and advocates something, the Republicans in Congress have had a strategy of opposing it simply because he's for it, so that it can be the worst sort of strategy for him to get up and advocate something if he wants to get anything done. And he said that he, you know, recognized when he came into office that that was the climate he was in, but he assumed that the American people would punish the other side for being so obstructionist. And he said that what happened instead was the approval ratings of Congress as a whole plummeted to basically zero, but individual politicians didn't pay a price. Mitch McConnell does not pay a price for adopting that strategy. His base back home in Kentucky celebrates his actions. Obama personally pays a price. His approval ratings are lower, because he seems to not be getting so much done with Congress. So the only relationship that we talked about that he has that's anything like that in his life is with Russia, in Putin's Russia. He says, you know, when the United States wants to do something, the Russians are instinctively against it just because we want to do it, like going and saving a million people in Libya. Why would the Russians disapprove of that? They disapprove of it simply because we want to do it. And it creates a - but it was funny, because he said that with the Russians, you know, he's made some progress, that there's, that he can get beyond that sometimes and find common ground. With the Republicans, there's been very little progress.[/quote] [url=http://www.wbur.org/npr/161003362/michael-lewis-studies-obamas-way][source 1][/url] [url=http://www.npr.org/2012/09/12/161003362/michael-lewis-studies-obamas-way][source 2][/url] I thought you guys would appreciate the comparison. Now to be fair, given the wording, I'm not sure if President Obama directly compared the two, but I prefer to believe he did. This is a small excerpt from a massive interview that I heard the other day. Feel free to listen to the whole thing. Actually, feel free to listen to NPR and PRI in general. It's the last truly good news media left if you ask me.

Such is life in America

Sad

Incredibly sad and utterly ridiculous that the republicans can be utter douchebags like this and get away with it.

I can understand going against something because you don't agree with it. But going against something purely because your "enemy" agrees with it? That's beyond fucked up.

[QUOTE=BuffaloBill;37673051]Incredibly sad and utterly ridiculous that the republicans can be utter douchebags like this and get away with it.[/QUOTE] Someone has to stand up to Saddam Hussien Obongo and his legion of communist nazis. Praise Jesus

[QUOTE=Solo Wing;37676107]I can understand going against something because you don't agree with it. But going against something purely because your "enemy" agrees with it? That's beyond fucked up.[/QUOTE] It's what happened during the Red Scare, which a lot of elected diehard republicans lived through, usually the same ones that seem to want to reenact that decade

[QUOTE=RainbowStalin;37676530]Someone has to stand up to Saddam Hussien Obongo and his legion of communist nazis. Praise Jesus[/QUOTE] He's pushing the gays agenda onto us! we can't stand for that in 'murica!

[QUOTE=ASmellyOgre;37672711][url=http://www.wbur.org/npr/161003362/michael-lewis-studies-obamas-way][source 1][/url] [url=http://www.npr.org/2012/09/12/161003362/michael-lewis-studies-obamas-way][source 2][/url] I thought you guys would appreciate the comparison. Now to be fair, given the wording, I'm not sure if President Obama directly compared the two, but I prefer to believe he did. This is a small excerpt from a massive interview that I heard the other day. Feel free to listen to the whole thing. Actually, feel free to listen to NPR and PRI in general. It's the last truly good news media left if you ask me.[/QUOTE] Agree, NPR is by far the most reliable, factual, and generally non-partisan news source in the country. Plus you can stream everything they do, any time, any place, for free. My job would suck if I couldn't listen to NPR on my phone all day.

“No! I must kill the Russians” he shouted The white house said “No, Mitt. You are the Russians” And then Mitt was a commie.

And that's why I hope you guys sort out your Congress too (2 years?) after Obama is re-elected. Otherwise he still can't do shit.

after hearing this and looking back at obama's comment saying "no hard feelings" about clint eastwood's speech, fits so much.

I wish the Republican base would get away from this weird stuff they've been doing. All it does is make everyone just assume every conservative is a Tea Party nut.

[QUOTE=A B.A. Survivor;37681040]I wish the Republican base would get away from this weird stuff they've been doing. All it does is make everyone just assume every conservative is a Tea Party nut.[/QUOTE] All the democrats have to do to win this election is stay quiet while the republicans keep getting more nutty right wing and destroy whatever chance they had to win.

[QUOTE=RainbowStalin;37682114]All the democrats have to do to win this election is stay quiet while the republicans keep getting more nutty right wing and destroy whatever chance they had to win.[/QUOTE] The reason they're as popular as they are is because a lot of people only get their side of the story. Staying silent is the worst thing (campaign wise) anyone can do in this country if they want to be President.

I knew there was a reason the color for the Republican party was red, they're dirty commies!

[QUOTE=Forumaster;37699470]I knew there was a reason the color for the Republican party was red, they're dirty commies![/QUOTE] I thought it was white, because you know... [/sarcasm]