Obama blames GOP for his 'biggest failure'
 

Obama Blames GOP for Inability to Pass Immigration Reform - Yahoo! News

OK. So a spanish TV station reminds Obama that he promised immigration reform in his first year.

First, Obama says that what he promised was to "work as hard as I can" to pass immigration reform. Problem is, that's not what he said...here's what he said..."what I can guarantee is that we will have in the first year an immigration bill "

Then, he said he failed on that promise because he was too busy fixing the economy (because as we all know, it's physically impossible for an executive to have 2 projects going simultaneously).

Then, he blamed the GOP. Actually, he blamed himself for being naive enough to think that the GOP would work with him.

Boy, I'm hear to tell you folks...we have come a LONG WAY from "the buck stops with me".

Did we really elect this ineffective, lying, race-baiting Bolshevik nitwit to be President? Did we really, really do that?

Didn't he have both the house & senate majority 1st 2 years in office ?
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He had the house and a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate for quite a while.

But Ronnie, you aren't supposed to point out things that make it look like he bears any responsibility for failures or broken promises. You must, therefore, be a racist.

As was established in another thread: 4 months with filibuster proof majority.

(1) Scott Brown was sworn in in February 2010. Obama took office in January 2009. How is that 4 months? Looks more like 13 months to me.

(2) Scott Brown is no hard-line conservative. His presence in teh Senate was not the end of Obama's chances of doing anything

(3) not everything was fillibustered by the GOP. Other presidents have managed to pass important legislation without having a fillibuster-proof majority of the Senate. You just have to know how to work with people who aren't exactly like you, and Obama hasn't figured that out yet.

Yup.
Super friendly, and all about bipartisanship and compromise with John Boener and Mitch McConnell.. I thought it was Tip Oniel and Regan all over again....

So what's Obama's idea of bipartanship - using the State Of The Union to bash the Supreme Court, sitting 10 feet away? Inviting Paul Ryan to a speech, and then telling the audience what a jerk Ryan is?

Leadership starts at the top.

Rockhound, if Obama made this promise, why didn't he simply pass immigration reform (and anything else he wanted) when his party held all the cards? Why?

He made a campaign promise when the economy was cranking and everything looked great. Then, when the economy was in a shambles he *SHOCK* shifted priorities to deal with bigger issues???

Seriously you're not suggesting he really did this do you?

If so I'd wager Michelle had something to do with it. She hates America and this would be just the thing to set the advancement of liberty back.

Babies.

-spence

she appears to be suffering under her own delusion, she actually said this last Monday....maybe she was practicing a comedy routine for Letterman or something :uhuh:


“The economy was losing 800,000 jobs every month, and a lot folks wondered whether we were headed for another great depression. Now this is what Barack faced on day one as president. That’s what awaited him, but instead of pointing fingers and placing blame, Barack got to work :rotf2::rotf2::rotf2:, because he was thinking about folks like my dad, like his grandmother,” the first lady said in a speech in Gainesville, Florida.

Spence
You are something else !
" made campaign promise when the economy was cranking "
He's spent 4 #^&#^&#^&#^&ing years blaming Bush for everything imaginable !
"shifted priorities"
What #^&#^&#^&#^&ing priorities, turning this country into a socialist country, giving millions & billions to any 3rd world country he could get away with doing so ?
He's done absolutely nothing to get this economy moving and turned us into a welfare nation !

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Spence, if Obama calls this his "biggest failure', then clearly this was not a superflous issue to him. Therefore, if he had 13 months to do whatever he wanted, I think an effective executive could have passed both the Stimulus bill as well as immigration reform.

FDR was dealing with the Nazis and the Japs and the Great Depression, all at the same time...maybe Obama could have found a way to pass 2 significant bills in 13 months. However, since he authored zero significant bills as a US Senator for 3 years, perhaps the rigor of passing one bill in 13 months as POTUS was all he could handle at one time. One bill in 13 months was a lot more than he did in 3 years as a US Senator.

Spence, you're making it too easy...

Economy was not cranking when he took office..

He only cared about Obama care...where the hell UUUUU coming from?

Absolutely, the economy was put on the shelf the first two yeras as he was working on his legacy, Obamacare.

Spence says Obama was too focused on the economy to do anything with immigration reform.

Hmmm.

George Bush...

(1) put a massive counter-terror infrastructure in place, which I'd argue was way more effective at dealing with terrorists than Obama has been with dealing with the economy, and ALSO

(2) implemented a massive AIDS program in Africa, which is credited by Stanford University researchers with saving morethan one million lives.

So, Spence. If Bush (the idiot) could walk and chew gum at the same time, why can't Obama (the genius) multi-task?

You have fun with that one, Spence...

Spence...do not blame the GOP....remember that Dems controled the senate and house in 2009...the hespanics just took him to task on that....promises promises

Let's be very clear and honest here...Obama says not passing immigration reform is his biggest failure. And according to him, 100% of the blame lies with others, namely the Republicans.

Obama had 13 months where it was not possible for the GOP to prevent him from doing anything. That is irrefutable fact. Yet he bears no responsibility for failing to deliver a promise he made on immigration.

A question for Zimmy, Spence, Paul S...isn't that severly lacking in honesty?

I detest Obama. I buried 2 kids under my command who willingly sacrificed for this country. Their sacrifice certainly doesn't demand that we elect a Republican. But their sacrifice demands that we elect someone who has the shred of honesty required to say "I messed up. I screwed the pooch on this one."

We need to raise the bar. Doing the right thing is always the right thing to do. Obama can only do the right thing when it's self-serving.

Obama told an Hispanic reporter in 2008, that he "guaranteed" there would be immigration reform in his first year. When that same reporter (from the Univision network) reminded Obama of the broken promise, Obama's first response was to lie. Obama's first response was that he only promised to "try" to get something done. wrong. Obama used the word "guarantee". Obama's second response was to blame the GOP, despite the fact that the Democrats controlled the legislature.

First, he lies. Second, he deflects blame.

We need to raise the bar. We have serious threats we are facing.

PaulS, Zimmy, Spence...please tell me where I'm wrong on this?

I had a few beers. Transmission ends.

let me know when any of this sounds familiar:uhuh:


"No matter how great the crimes progressives commit, no matter how terrible the futures they labor to create, no matter how devastating the human catastrophes they leave behind, the world outside the faith seems ready to forgive their “mistakes” and to grant them the grace of “good intentions.”

As Jamie Glazov, a student of the left, has observed in an article about the middle-class defenders of recently captured Seventies terrorist Kathy Soliah: “if you can successfully camouflage your own pathology and hatred with a concern for the ‘poor’ and the ‘downtrodden,’ then there will always be a ‘progressive’ milieu to support and defend you.”

If you believed that others could understand your truth, you would not think of yourself as part of a “vanguard.” You would no longer inhabit the morally charmed world of an elite whose members alone can see the light and whose mission is to lead the unenlightened towards it. If everybody could see the same horizon and knew the path to reach it, the future would already have happened and there would be no need for the army of the saints.

That is both the ethical core and psychological heart of what it means to be a part of the left. That is where the gratification comes from. To see yourself as a redeemer. To feel anointed. To be among the elect. In other words: To be progressive is itself the most satisfying narcissism of all.

That is why it is of little concern to them that their socialist schemes have run aground, burying millions of human beings in the process. That is why they don’t care that their panaceas have caused more human suffering than any injustice they have ever challenged. That is why they never learn from their “mistakes,” why the continuance of Them is more important than any truth.

Conservatives who think progressives are misinformed idealists will always be blind-sided by the sheer malice of the left -- by the cynicism of those who pride themselves on their principles; by the viciousness of those who champion sensitivity; by the intolerance of those who call themselves liberal; and by the ruthless disregard for the well-being of the poor on the part of those who preen themselves as their champions.

Conservatives are surprised because they see progressives as merely misguided, when they are, in fact, morally – and ontologically -- misdirected. They are the messianists of a false religious faith. Since the redeemed future that justifies their existence and rationalizes their hypocrisy can never be realized, what really motivates progressives is a modern idolatry: their limitless passion for the continuance of Them."




Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

Barack Obama

Great post Scott. That may be your magnum opus.

We're in serious trouble. And it's all preventable.

No, to be an opus he'd have to actually write something.

-spence

Spence, one more time...

What was your response to my claim that an effective leader can do 2 things at once?

You insulted me by saying I couldn't grasp your response. I just checked that thread again. Unless there's something really wrong with my eyes, you did not respond...

He was on UNIVISION for Christmas sake.

Did you read the actual transcript? President Obama is quite lucid and articulate.

President Obama says very clearly upon taking office his highest priority was the economy. He also says that the Republicans who supported reform before the election had suddenly flipped...

The President doesn't have magic powers. If Republican Senators aren't going to participate in the dialogue then President Obama doesn't have a filibuster proof majority for very long, perhaps a few months? Hell, he couldn't even get the DREAM ACT through the Senate let alone comprehensive reform.

I'm not sure what your point of this entire thread is...just sounds like senseless bitching to me.

Seriously Jim, you're making the BLAME BUSH crowd look like rank amateurs.

-spence

"He was on UNIVISION for Christmas sake..."

What's your point? That it's OK for Obama to pander to the audience, tell them whatever they want to hear, and then forget about it?

"Did you read the actual transcript?

Sure I did. Did you?

In 2008, Obama said this..."What I can guarantee is that we will have in the first year an immigration bill that I strongly support"


Read more: Hector Barreto: On Univision, Obama Admits Breaking Promises to Hispanics | Fox News Latino

Spence, that's not an ambiguous statement, is it?

Obama promi9sed immigration reform in his first year. During every single day of that first year, the Democrats controlled the legislature. Therefore, he cannot honestly say that the GOP stopped him from honoring his "guarantee".

"President Obama says very clearly upon taking office his highest priority was the economy"

Fine. WHY CAN'T HE DO TWO THINGS AT THE SAME TIME? You keep dodging that question, Spence...

"President Obama doesn't have a filibuster proof majority for very long, perhaps a few months?"

You're being dishonest here. Once again, he had a fillibuster-proof majority for every single day of his first 13 months (which is longer than the time period in which he guaranteed immigration reform. And even after thatm did the Democrats propose immigration reform that was fillibustered by the GOP? Nope...

"I'm not sure what your point of this entire thread is"

(1) Obama broke a specific promise
(2) Obama lied about why he didn't fulfill that promise (the GOP could not have blocked immigration reform during his entire first year)
(3) you are as intellectually dishonest as he is, incapable of questioning anything that comes out of his mouth

"He also says that the Republicans who supported reform before the election had suddenly flipped"

Spence, maybe you and Barack should take a high school civics class. For Obama's first 13 months, he didn't need any GOP support to pass any immigration law he wanted. The Democrats controlled the house, and had a fillibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Therefore, neither Obama nor you can accurately claim that the GOP prevented immigration reform in his first 13 months.

Spence, what is it about that statement, exactly, that do you not understand?

"you're making the BLAME BUSH crowd look like rank amateurs"

No, I'm not. I'm proving irrefutably that Obama is a liar. I have proven that to a 100% certainty. I am simultaneously proving that you are also a liar and/or a coward. You will not admit hard, concrete, irrefutable fact, if it exposes your hero for what he is.

Not keeping a campaign promise isn't a lie unless you never had any intention of fulfilling that promise. A lot goes on that's out of your control.

And since you like facts, here are some on said super majority.

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/did...-for-how-long/

Do you seriously think President Obama didn't want to reform immigration? Unless you do you really don't have a leg to stand on.

-spence

"Not keeping a campaign promise isn't a lie..."

As usual, you missed the point that your children could grasp. Obama's lie was saying that the GOP is to blame for his not keeping the promise. One last time, there was no way for the GOP to stop him from doing anything.

I have never heard anyone, ever, deny that Obama had carte blanche during his first 13 months. even Obama isn't denying that.

Spence, was there an immigration bill proposed by the Democrats that the GOP killed? Yes or no?

"
Do you seriously think President Obama didn't want to reform immigration?"

I have no idea. What I do know is that he could have if he wanted to, but he chose not to. That's irrefutable fact. Try making that wrong.

"you really don't have a leg to stand on"

You're the desperate, pathetic one here Spence. you're desperately grasping at straws, and everyone knows it.

Here is Spence's take on this issue...

Obama was only speaking to Univision, so apparently Spence doesn't hold him accountable for promises made to the brown people...

Obama couldn't pass immigration reform, because he was focused on the economy. And as we all know, the constitution prevents the President from dealing with more than one thing at a time.

Obama wanted to pass immigration reform, but the GOP prevented it. No immigration bill was ever voted down by the GOP, so I'm not clear on exactly how the GOP prevented anything. Maybe the Koch brothers kidnapped Obama's kids, and threatened to hurt them if the Dems proposed immigration reform.

Spence, the simple truth is that Obama flat-out broke a promise, and then he lied through his teeth about why he failed to keep that promise. You cannot win this argument, but don't you at least have the sense to realize you are getting pulverized here?

Obama broke a promise, then shifted the blame to other when called on it. How is that "hope and change" we were promised?

You guys actually spent three days arguing about whether a politician lied.....

Thats like arguing about whether a prostitute charges for sex...

How much $ do they usually charge you ?




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Why.....they cheaper down on the south shore.

Maybe they have a better dental plan up here.....

I would not say this was his biggest failure. If he thinks it is he is seriously misguided or lying.
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What's funny is that if you read the transcript it's clear President Obama actually meant it as a joke :smash:

-spence

You have a very keen insight into his mind then. I read the transcript, and saw the video, and saw no indication he was joking. And he was not kidding when he put 100% of the blame on the GOP's shoulders, rather than on his own inability to do 2 things simultaneously.

Do you actually believe these things as you type them?

I thought I e'splained this to you :huh:

Let's go to the tape.

This is after President Obama has been hammered in the interview about not getting immigration reform passed...

I applaud you for recognizing my keen insight, but to be honest, had you actually read the transcript (as you said you did) you would have known this for yourself.

-spence

they were laughing at him, not with him :)

"By the end of the program, Obama had been hammered into submission on his immigration reform promise. Asked what he considers his biggest failure, he turned to Ramos. "Jorge, as you remind me, my biggest failure so far is we haven't gotten comprehensive immigration reform done yet," he said to laughter from the audience, adding it wasn't for lack of trying."


Obama: Immigration Reform Inaction Was 'Biggest Failure'

"I don't want it to get lost in translation," Ramos said, switching briefly into English in an otherwise Spanish-language interview. "You promised. And a promise is a promise. With all due respect, you didn't keep that promise."

Obama replied that he takes responsibility for that failure, but denied he made such a promise -- a claim he also made recently to Spanish news agency Agencia Efe.

Obama has been accused of using immigration for politics, particularly after he announced his deferred action policy so close to the election. He dismissed that idea.





are you noticing a pattern here?????

Yes, your shady quotations.

He went on to say...

Which is true.

It's a fact President Obama tried to start immigration reform, a fact the Dems tried to pass the DREAM ACT and a fact that President Obama used executive action to institute the deferred action policy...something that's pretty reasonable.

At the same time, deportations for the less savory are up.

A President who tries to kick the bad immigrants out and keep the good immigrants in would appear to be working in all our interests.

-spence

Spence.. Why do you bother??
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Idolatry :uhuh:

"fact" is Spence, that, most of what Obama put his mind to is a mess...... his, and your explanation is to fault circumstances and others and their dark motivations..which is fine I guess...unless you are the President of the United States.....

time for him to go :uhuh:

”On March 19, 2009, after spending fewer than two full months in the White House, President Obama told Jay Leno that ‘one of the things’ he was ‘trying to break is a pattern in Washington where everybody is always looking for somebody else to blame.‘”

"Well look,” he said. “I think it is important for everybody to remember that I have been four square behind comprehensive immigration reform from the time I was a U.S. senator to my election as president and today. So, the issue has never been my full-throated support for comprehensive immigration reform.”

False. Obama tends to forget that, while in the Senate, he supported — at the behest of organized labor — a “poison pill” amendment intended to kill bipartisan attempts at comprehensive immigration reform.

then-Senator Obama’s killing of immigration reform in 2007. His vote for the Dorgan amendment, named after then-Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D, who introduced it, was a poison pill amendment designed to gut the guest worker expansion and scuttle the entire reform effort. It passed 49 to 48 thanks to Obama’s unexpected support.

And, as president, he failed to make reform a top priority, as he promised Latinos he would.

Obama went on: “The challenge is to get it passed through Congress, which is ultimately who has to pass this law. We have strong support from the majority of Democrats. We have no support from Republicans.”

False. Obama may have support from a majority of Democrats in Congress, but it doesn't appear to be “strong” support.

For the four years that Democrats controlled both houses of Congress, from January 2007 to January 2011, comprehensive immigration reform was never a priority. Back then, Republicans were driving the agenda.

The president also said: “You've got some of the leading Republican candidates for president saying they would veto the DREAM Act, and members of Congress telling the same line. We couldn't get any Republican votes for the DREAM Act when it came up a couple of years ago.”

False. In December 2010, when Congress last took up the legislation that would give undocumented youth legal status if they joined the military or went to college, three Republican senators — Richard Lugar of Indiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Robert Bennett of Utah — voted in favor of cloture to move the bill to a full vote. Lugar, in fact, was a co-sponsor of the bill.

Obama said: “My hope is that after this election, partly because of a strong Latino vote, a message will be sent that we need to, once again, be a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants, that we've got to be respectful of folks who are here, who are doing the right thing, trying to raise their families, often times have kids who were born here in the United States, and they need to be given a chance, a pathway, so that they can have a strong legal status in this country.”

False. Obama has nerve talking about being “respectful” to immigrant families given that his administration has divided tens of thousands of them.

According to a recent report by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, more than 46,000 parents with U.S.-born children were deported in the first half of 2011.

In trying to be both hawkish and humane on immigration, Obama has a problem telling the truth on the subject.
And that's no lie

Read more: Obama has trouble with truth on immigration - San Antonio Express-News