Wait! The GOP and Dems will be mixing it up at the State of The Union sitting next to their “SOTU dates“; Eric Cantor pronounces that “Obama is an American citizen and now John McCain declares that the President “has learned a lot”.
What the heck have they done to the old Washington, DC?
Ariz. Sen Says President Has “Changed a Great Deal” in Last Two Years; Sees Improvements in His Politics Following Midterms
Arizona Senator John McCain said on Sunday he thought President Obama had “learned a lot” in his first two years as president, and that he saw adjustments in the president’s politics following the November midterm elections.
In an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday morning, McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, said he thought Mr. Obama “has learned a lot in the last two years,” and that there was room for Republicans to work with him.
“He is a very intelligent man. I think he’s doing a lot of right things. This emphasis on cutting spending that we’ll be talking about…was something that obviously was not talked about in the last two years,” McCain told CBS’ Bob Schieffer. “I think there’s common ground because I think the president realized, as a result of the November elections, that the American people have a different set of priorities.”
McCain said he was hopeful that Mr. Obama’s recent efforts at bipartisanship could signal a changing atmosphere in Washington.
“I think the president has already changed a great deal,” McCain said. “Tomorrow night he’s going to be talking about cutting spending. That’s what the message of the November election was. He’ll be saying some things that we don’t agree with, but obviously with the new appointments, with an agenda where he wants free trade agreements passed … I think there’s going to be a number of areas that we can at least find common ground on.”
McCain also said that he, like a number of other Congressional members, would be sitting with a member of the opposite political party during Mr. Obama’s State of the Union Speech on Tuesday – though he noted his belief that the bipartisan seating issue was being “overblown.”
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- McCain: Don’t jump around at State of the Union (thehill.com)
- John McCain: Obama ‘A Patriot’ (huffingtonpost.com)
- Senate Republicans to Oppose Obama’s Spending Plans (nytimes.com)
- John McCain Reminds Us Of His Nobler Instincts (alan.com)
Here’s what I think is going on.
1. The Republicans win a simple majority in the House and, with their usual hubris, claim they’re now in charge of the whole government.
2. The President announces he hasn’t been working enough with the other side.
3. The Republicans start saying they can work together now that the President has accepted that they are in charge.
4. Obama is finally able to pass bills that the Republicans liked all along but wouldn’t admit it because they weren’t in charge.
5. The gridlock is ended and the Republicans get to pretend they are the ones with ideas. Win/Win!
Glix, it appears you are spot on with your analysis.
McCain is the master of condescension with a smile.