“Grandiose speeches may help President Obama frame his legacy but they won’t help our state climb out of the hole his party has been digging for decades”. “Today, I ask every state in America to join us-reduce these barriers to voting”, Obama said.
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In Washington, Republicans said Obama was just as much to blame for the nation’s divided politics. With a rich history rooted in IL, most of Obama’s visit will be among old friends.
“The point I’m trying to make is I care about fixing our politics”, said Obama, who is in his final year as president. Obama’s second-term presidency is ending in November this year.
The tone of Obama’s speech to the Illinois General Assemly wasn’t exactly a scolding, but more a lamentation of the polarized nature of current American politics coupled with a hopeful sentiment that Americans can and should be encouraged to do better. He appealed to state lawmakers, and the public, to rid politics of “polarization and meanness” that discourage widespread participation in civic life. “There’s a better way of doing it, we need to do it in IL”, said St. Senator Dave Koehler. “Here in IL, as Republicans, we’re in the minority”.
And in a statement that will inevitably be read as a rebuke of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Obama denounced the “schoolyard taunts” that often characterize the political debate.
Even at the start of his campaign, Obama identified the politics-as-usual status quo as one thing he wished to change.
President Barack Obama addresses the Illinois General Assembly, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Ill.
“Oh, I love him”, she said afterward.
“If Speaker Madigan was listening to that address and heard the word compromise, and realized that it takes both sides working together for the common good, we might be able to move forward”, Kay said, adding that the speaker needs to assign a specific revenue number on his proposed spending budget. Obama told lawmakers in the House chambers that he remembers his time in the legislature as a time when “we could fight like heck on one issue and shake hands on the next”.
Obama returned to a statehouse that has weathered its share of turmoil since he left it behind in 2004. The two sides have yet to approve a budget more than eight months into the fiscal year, prompting massive cuts to higher education and social service programs.
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Air Force One landed in IL around 11:15 a.m. “But given in the context of IL and the challenges we have, his message really applied – when he talked about partisanship and gridlock, and just an unwillingness to compromise”.
