President Obama will hold a press conference in the East Room tomorrow afternoon:
Aides said they expected Mr. Obama to call for an end to the division that characterized the campaign and for a renewed focus on bipartisanship to solve the nation’s economic and other problems.
The White House is bracing for a bad night, anticipating an outcome that has virtually every political specialist predicting that the Democrats will lose the House but possibly hang on to the Senate. The White House wants to use the news conference the next day to help Mr. Obama reframe his presidency and signal that he heard what the voters were trying to tell him.
On Friday, Mr. Obama will travel to Asia for a long-delayed trip. When he returns, he has a heavy agenda for the lame-duck session of Congress, which will include whether to extend the Bush-era tax cuts that expire at the end of the year, an appropriations bill to keep the government operating and an arms control treaty with Russia.
There is no indication that Mr. Obama will do anything in his news conference on Wednesday as significant as what President George W. Bush did after Republicans lost control of Congress in 2006. The day after that midterm election, which turned at least in part on voter frustration with the flailing war effort in Iraq, Mr. Bush admitted he had taken a “thumpin’” and fired Defense Secretary Donald M. Rumsfeld.
Alas, the Democrats' definition of "bipartisanship" usually amounts to "Republicans should agree to our policy proposals". Color me skeptical that Obama is even capable of ending the partisan divisions. Tomorrow's speech will probably just be a launching of the 2012 election cycle.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuseso.... now he wants to play nice...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBy "renewed focus on bipartisanship," I presume he means to use this press conference to direct Republicans to their seats at the back of the bus.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseExpect no candor and more mischief from this failed President.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMaybe Obama will hold another teaching moment and refer to the Republican members of congress by their first names again.
I agree, the comment by reldim is what The Great Misleader's intentions are.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI don't believe he will change his stripes but he expects the republicans to capitulate to his whims. I am praying they will stand their ground and not fall prey to bipartisanship which in my book means the republicans move to the left never the democrats moving to the right. I do not believe Obama is capable of moving to the center because he is a true believer.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTo quote a famous person, "Just words."
The man is incapable of bipartisanship as the rest of us understand it. The ideological bubble he operates in is far too thick for him to hear what the voters are trying to tell him.
More importantly, he doesn't care. We may hear his newly tempered words tomorrow. But they'll be nothing more than words.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWe've spent lots of time comparing him to Jimmy Carter. Perhaps we should compare him to LBJ -- maybe he will see that he's just so unpopular that he will not run for re-election. It is something he should be encouraged to consider...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI don't think he'll take any heart-felt responsibility, whatsoever. It's just not in him, in very much the same way how it's not in him to be genuinely self-deprecating in any way. I think he, and his advisers, believe that if he can fashion another government shut-down, that will stem the Republican tide. He's wrong, but that's what he'll do.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI anticipate that the "reframe" to be more of the same. Expect token faux conciliatory language about the voters having spoken shrouding lots of exculpatory messages about how the massa damnata was just too fearful and ignorant to embrace and understand the administration's bold and necessary vision for America's future. There will be a call for bipartisanship, of course, that will be gutted by accusing the Republicans of being the party of "no" who heretofore has not been offering any leadership or plans and must now demonstrate their ability to lead by endorsing the essence of Obama's vision-- but he will graciously permit some symbolic but useless tinkering around its edges. Finally, he will state that the true lesson of this election is that if only he had done a better job at explaining himself to those idiot voters, then they would not have voted in a manner so self-evidently contrary to their own interests.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI expect Obama to come out, admit that Democrats that did not stand with him took a "thumpin'" and fire Donald Rumsfeld.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe key to tomorrow is that Obama must realize that "this is what elections are for" and adjust his platform accordingly. How many times in the last nineteen months have we heard that?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHmmm. Tune in tomorrow for our pseudo-intellectual narcissist-in-chief as he deftly insults those of us among the great unwashed? Pass!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf he wants an "end to the division" then he can stop creating 99.9% of it.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis reminds me of pro wrestling, where the bad guy gouges his opponent in the eyes, chokes him when the ref isn't watching, hits him with a chair, and struts around sneering at the fans who are booing at him..
Then when his opponent gets the upper hand, he pleads for mercy, begs the good guy not to hit him
When Obama was on top, he tried every dirty play in the book against his opponents. Now that we've regained the upper hand, he wants to play nice.
Here's how the wrestling show almost always plays out: Bad guy is on his knees, begging for mercy. Good guy has him by the neck, looks to the crowd on his right for a go-ahead to clobber the bad guy. Looks to the crowd on his left. Looks to the crowd in front. Looks to the crowd in back. Looks to the nosebleed seats. Everyone is screaming for him to clobber the bad guy.
So he hauls back to launch a murderous haymaker...
...and the bad guy gives him a boot to the groin.
No. Obama has been kicking us in the groin the last two years. It's too late to ask, "Can't we all just get along?" You should have thought of that on January 20, 2009.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"I won".
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse