Is it "politics as usual" in Washington?

Trying to remember the last time Bush consulted congressional Dems for policy input….gimme a second…..

I’m not sure it counts as consultation if you don’t take their advice and do what you wanted to do anyways.

No. For the moment, the good guys are winning.

@critter1982 Obama forced the dems to drop the family planning provision of the package at the demand of the Reps, and they’re going to oppose it anyway. If you want to talk about pigheadedness, look no further than the right side of the aisle.

Not in the oval office. Polarization and partisanship are pretty entrenched. I am not yet despairing.

I sure hope not. Keeping my fingers crossed, and my mind and heart open.

There’s going to be the usual pushme-pullyou between Congress and the White House. To expect anything different is naive. How would I see things as different from “politics as usual”?

I want the financial recovery to start form the ground up, and that means infrastructure, a long hard look at the way financial institutions are structured here, and any lying, thieving executives having to see some people at Justice while wearing handcuffs.

I want Executive Orders used less often and the orders themselves to be more transparent to the people.

I expect that Obama (and Clinton) will begin real dialogue with those countries we have issues with and that they’ll be respected as representatives of our country. I want to know why we are divided so sharply with the UN and how we can fix this. The business with Russia, China and some Middle Eastern countries acting like (and telling their people via their national media that) he’s a fake and a puppet has got to be counteracted and soon.

The last president I truly liked was Carter, but he was seen as a weakling. Being conscientious and considerate and concerned about others while standing up for yourself and your interests can be done without being a weakling. I think he’s capable of this, though.

Congress is still basically business as usual, but the White House is definitely going a new direction.

@aprilsimnel: I don’t think Congress will be as usual, given the majority attained by the Democrats, and that a Democrat is in the oval office. Obama is trying to make nice with Republicans to show he means it about bipartisan, but I think that’ll stop soon, when the Republicans show no appetite for anything but being oppositional.

@daloon – Well, that’s what I mean. Opposition’s going to pop up soon enough. CNN and the Sundy morning pundit shows need conflict for their news cycles, if for nothing else.

ah

What’s the difference between fiddling while Rome burns and getting the hoses in place, hiring the firemen, rescuing people from burning buildings and turning on the water?