November 10, 2016

USA: Donald Trump Should Just Paraphrase Obeyme - President Obama to American Republicans: "Elections matter. I won. You Lost. Deal with it."


(Oct. 2013) Arrogant President Obama to Republicans: "Elections matter. I won. You Lost. Deal with it."


(Feb. 25, 2010) Arrogant President Barack Obama and his former political rival, Arizona Senator John McCain mix it up during the health care summit featuring the president and members of Congress.

Obama to McCain, "Let me just make this point John. Because we're not campaigning anymore. The election is over. So we can spend the remainder of the time with our respective talking points going back and forward. We were supposed to be talking about insurance."


(Jan. 20, 2015) Arrogant President Obama strays off script when applause breaks out after he says "I have no more campaigns to run."

He stops his speech and then says " I know because I won both of them"

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The Washington Post, USA
written by Chris Cillizza
October 13, 2013

A visibly frustrated President Obama delivered a blunt message to Republicans with whom he had feuded over the government shutdown and the debt ceiling over the past month on Tuesday: Elections matter. I won; you lost. Deal with it.

That's a paraphrase -- obviously. Here's what Obama actually said:
"You don't like a particular policy or a particular president? Then argue for your position. Go out there and win an election. Push to change it. But don't break it. Don't break what our predecessors spent over two centuries building. That's not being faithful to what this country's about."
"Go out there and win an election." That's about as direct as you will ever hear a politician be about how he feels about his opposition and how they are conducting themselves. (It's not the first time Obama has used the "I won" construct. Remember the health-care summit in early 2010 when Obama told Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.): "The election is over.")

Obama's argument comes down to this: He believes that the 2012 election -- in which he was reelected easily and Democrats surprisingly picked up Senate seats and won a handful of House seats -- was a clear signal that the American electorate prefers his vision for government to the one offered by Republicans. He views that mandate as a broad one -- encompassing fiscal matters, health care, immigration and pretty much everything else.

Republicans, obviously, disagree vehemently with the "elections matter ... and I won" concept -- noting that they still control the House, which means that simply accepting Obama's priorities in toto because he won reelection isn't representing their constituents well. (Democrats make the counterpoint that while Republicans control the House, they actually got fewer raw votes in 2012. True. But, that gets us into redistricting -- and that's a whole other can of worms we aren't opening in this blog post.)

At the center of this disagreement -- policy differences aside -- is what it means to be the loyal opposition. Obama believes that Republicans have the right to dislike/disagree/fight his policies but only within the bounds of standard operating procedure on Capitol Hill. ("Push to change it. But don't break it.") That sentiment, in truth, is probably shared by 80 (or so) House Republicans -- including Speaker John Boehner. But, for the other 140 House GOPers -- including the four dozen or so committed tea party conservatives -- opposing the president and his policies means using any means necessary to do so. That includes a government shutdown and very nearly going past the debt-ceiling deadline.

For that group of 140, elections matter, too -- their elections. And, their constituents not only don't blanche at their tactics but embrace them. In many districts in the country, being involved in an effort to repeal Obamacare -- even if it led to a government shutdown -- was a very good thing politically.

Obama's annoyance -- and call for cooperation -- then will fall on mostly deaf ears. It's hard to play a "fair" game when the two teams can't even agree on what the rules should be or what winning (and losing) looks like.

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Politico News, USA
written by Carol E. Lee and Jonathan Martin
January 23, 2009

President Obama listened to Republican gripes about his stimulus package during a meeting with congressional leaders Friday morning - but he also left no doubt about who's in charge of these negotiations. "I won," Obama noted matter-of-factly, according to sources familiar with the conversation.

The exchange arose as top House and Senate Republicans expressed concern to the president about the amount of spending in the package. They also raised red flags about a refundable tax credit that returns money to those who don’t pay income taxes, the sources said.

The Republicans stressed that they want to include more middle class tax cuts in the package, citing their proposal to cut the two lowest tax rates — 15 percent and 10 percent — to ten percent and five percent, rather than issue the refundable credit Obama wants.

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The Wall Street Journal, USA
Obama to GOP: ‘I Won’
written by Mary Lu Carnevale
January 23, 2009

Jonathan Weisman reports on the White House.

The top congressional leaders from both parties gathered at the White House for a working discussion over the shape and size of President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plan. The meeting was designed to promote bipartisanship.

But Obama showed that in an ideological debate, he’s not averse to using a jab.

Challenged by one Republican senator over the contents of the package, the new president, according to participants, replied: “I won.”

The statement was prompted by Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona , who challenged the president and the Democratic leaders over the balance between the package’s spending and tax cuts, bringing up the traditional Republican notion that a tax credit for people who do not earn enough to pay income taxes is not a tax cut but a government check.

Obama noted that such workers pay Social Security and Medicare taxes, property taxes and sales taxes. The issue was widely debated during the presidential campaign, when Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee, challenged Obama’s tax plan as “welfare.”

With those two words — “I won” — the Democratic president let the Republicans know that debate has been put to rest Nov. 4 .

Democratic and Republican aides confirmed the exchange. A White House spokesman said he wasn’t immediately aware of the exchange. The aides who heard the remarks stressed that it wasn’t as boldly partisan as it might sound.

Still, other Democrats echoed the sentiment. As he left the White House, House Majority Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina was asked about Republican complaints that Democrats aren’t listening to what their GOP colleagues have to say. “We’re responding to the American people,” he said. “The American people didn’t listen to them too well during the election.”

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