Yes, it was polarized before he took office. However that's what his promise was all about, no need to talk about uniting unless that polarization existed. But I do believe he has further contributed to it since it's gotten worse under his admin.
And I don't believe he has made good faith efforts at uniting. For the most part (stimulus, health care reform etc) he has let Pelosi & Reid run the show, and they've made no attempt at uniting or being transparent etc. Those two are highly partisan.
In many areas Obama's words during the campaign just don't match the reality of his administration, legislation to be publicly published in advance? Never happend. The HC debate an open process televised on CSPAN? Never happened. AIG records sealed until 2018? That's the transparency and accountability he promised? He said he would sit down and go over HC reform line-by-line with Repubs, yet he has refused to do so even though some Repubs have requested it.
This year hasn't been about any "good Faith" effort and everyone knows it. It's been about ramming through the Dem agenda since they hold these historic majorities and know they are temporary.
There won't be any good faith efforts until they suit him and he needs it due to slim or no majorities in Congress (or election polls). It's naive to think otherwise.
Fern
What kind of dumb@ post is this? Whether you like him or not and clearly you don't, the guy has tried just about everything. The clunkers, had some success but your folks whined about it did nothing. The housing policies and tax credit. His policies slowed down and helped many home owners in foreclosure and the Real Estate Industry has stated that the $8000 tax credit worked to sell houses. But your folks, whined it wasn't enough, but yet when he made mention of spending more money to try to increase the benefits, your folks whined more. You can't bargain with people who don't want to bargain in the first place. Despite the mixed emotions around healthcare, something we all know needs to be fixed or at least improved, all your folks have done is go on tv and whine about how much money its going to cost and offering absolutely zero alternatives. Your folks have ran everything from tea parties, fake Palin book rallies, and shooting abortion doctors in cold blood. All true gestures of compromise by the right. I don't care for a lot of things he's trying to do, IMO he's trying to do too much. But at least he's trying, something that lousy worthless piece of garbage President we had in Bush didn't do. Its easy to criticize when you offer nothing, sit on the sidelines, and try to undermine everything. While he may be going overboard I give the guy credit for having the guts to try and accomplish something. For the right, right now they ain't worth the dirt people spit on outside.
