Obama proceeded to bust Republicans on their denial of reality,
saying of the shrub years, "To hear them tell it, those were the good old
days …
“Why
are all these Republican politicians so down on America?” President
Barack Obama asked during a fundraiser for Senator Patty Murray’s (D-WA)
reelection campaign at the Seattle Westin hotel.
Obama said listening to Republicans is really depressing and it
doesn’t match up with the truth. After listing a lot of positive changes
including cutting our deficits by 2/3s, Obama proceeded to bust
Republicans on their denial of reality. Saying of the
shrub years, “To
hear them tell it, those were the good old days. The golden years.” The
President grinned as the audience laughed. “And then me and Patty, we
messed it up.”
The audience went wild as that line settled in.
This is a must-watch if you like watching President Obama bust Republicans:
“Which makes you wonder– why are all these Republican politicians so down on America?”
“I
mean, I know it’s political season, but listening to them is really
depressing. And it kind of doesn’t match up with the truth. In the
reality that they create, everything was terrific in 2008 — in the
middle of the worst recession in our lifetimes,” Obama said. The
President reminded everyone of the reality, “Unemployment, uninsured
rates going up; we were in two wars, hopelessly addicted to foreign oil,
bin Laden still at large. To hear them tell it, those were the good
old days. The golden years. And then me and Patty, we messed it up.”
The President acknowledged that people are still struggling, “But
this is important because folks are — look, folks are struggling in
communities around the country sometimes; they are trying to figure out
how they can see their wages go up, and they’re still struggling to
afford a college education. So there are reasons why people want to see
more improvement.”
But then brought it back to the historical reality, “But they don’t remember where we were.”
Obama busted Republicans for trolling despair, “And sometimes they
may feel like there’s no hope. And that’s what the other side is
counting on — is folks forgetting what happened the last time they were
in charge.”
“You’ve got to give them credit for chutzpah,” Obama said.
“You’ve got to feel bad for the fact-checkers who just cannot keep up
with some of the stuff they say.” (The audience loved this.)
“They’re saying, wait, wait, wait, what he just said about climate
change — that’s not true. But before that’s happened, suddenly they’re
saying something else about immigration that’s not true. Or they’re
saying something about the deficit that’s not true.”
Why are they denying reality? Because, as I write often in these
pages, they have nothing else – or as the President put it, “Now, part
of the reason that they have to do this is because they keep running on
the so many policies that caused so many problems in the first place.”
This is what happens when a party refuses to admit its mistakes and
adapt its policies according to historical realities. They are left
denying reality and selling lies.
A gander at the list of failed policies Republicans continue to run
on, courtesy of the President, “More tax breaks for folks at the very
top. Cutting investments in things like education. Repealing the
Affordable Care Act and kicking millions off health insurance. Gutting
Wall Street reform, risking another crisis by letting the biggest banks
run wild. Denying that our planet is getting warmer, and thereby
unraveling new rules on power plants to protect the air our kids
breathe.”
Yep. Nothing to see here.
And on a sobering note, the President said, “We know we’ve got to do
something to prevent the kind of massacres we saw last week, and two
months before that and two months before that, — and two months before
that…It’s not normal. It is not inevitable. It doesn’t just happen.”
This got a passionate round of applause that continued through the next
paragraph.
“It is a choice that we make, and it is a choice that we can change,”
Obama said, calling out the “politics of fear” used by politicians who
refuse to do anything to pass reasonable gun safety laws. “There are
ways to protect our children and protect our rights. Don’t pretend that
they’re aren’t.”
“And, look, it’s comfortable to just say Washington doesn’t work
anymore, everything is dysfunctional, just to turn away. Or to start
looking for false prophets who spout things that, under examination,
don’t really make any sense, but feed your biases and your fears. But
we can’t afford that. We’ve got too much work to do,” Obama said,
reminding Democrats that our government is part of us and that all
citizens need to be engaged in order to enact change.
The fundraising event drew a crowd of about 1,450 people and raised
more than $500,000 for Murray’s campaign according to a pool report.