President Barack Obama has arrived in Springfield to address the Illinois Legislature on the ninth anniversary of his announcement at the Old State Capitol that he would make a run for the White House.
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When President Obama travels to IL this week to speak in front of the state legislature, it will be nine years to the day since he announced his bid for the presidency from the same spot.
“When I hear either side talking about refusal to compromise as actual accomplishment, I’m not impressed”, he insisted.
“As much as you can hope for collaboration and expect it and want it, and it does work most of the time, there are always going to be those issues that are so divisive that you’re going to have that party mentality”, Althoff said. He called on IL lawmakers to approve pending legislation that would make voter registration automatic when people get their drivers’ licenses. “Thomas Jefferson’s opponent tried to stir things up by saying he was a Muslim, so I’m in good company”, he said to laughter.
But as if to reinforce the depth of current partisanship, Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the chamber applauded in party blocs when their pet issue was raised.
Sen. Jason Barickman, a Bloomington Republican, said the president’s push for compromise and civility “is a healthy and necessary message in today’s politics, especially in IL”.
“The tone of our politics hasn’t gotten better, it’s gotten worse”, Obama said in what was a quick-witted, sometimes self-deprecating and even genuinely amusing speech that focused on what he called “building better politics”.
President Barack Obama says lawmakers should rethink how congressional districts are drawn as a way to improve the country’s political climate.
His visit comes amid the ongoing IL state budget stalemate between the Democrat-controlled General Assembly and Republican Governor Bruce Rauner that has ended state funding for higher education – including UIS – and multiple social services. Today, America’s House is more divided than ever, and Obama calls that one his biggest disappointments.
In the presidential campaign to succeed Obama, Republicans are arguing about whether to ban Muslims from the US and trading personal epithets barely suitable to print. On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders is calling for political revolution fueled by animosity toward corporate interests.
But on Wednesday, Obama lamented his failure to mend the broken political culture of Washington over these past eight years.
Spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters that the president won’t be a “back-seat driver for running the state government of IL”. The president recalled his days at the statehouse, when as a freshman lawmaker, he said he was able to build relationships with colleagues from diverse backgrounds across the state. They don’t just learn it from school they learn it by watching us the way we conduct ourselves, the way we treat each other.
Obama seemed to be at ease speaking from behind the podium in the Illinois House. “It’s time to turn the page”, he continued.
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So for those listening to the speech, see whether Obama talks about those subjects and, if he does, exactly what he says about them.
