In the presidential campaign to succeed Obama, Republicans are arguing about whether to ban Muslims from the USA 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.
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Now, as he enters the last year of his second term as commander-in-chief, he returned to the capitol city as the first sitting president to address IL lawmakers in almost 40 years.
However, the members of Obama’s Democratic Party, who control both the state House and Senate, have not often lived up to that, said State Sen. Meanwhile, the rhetoric continues to ramp up past ear-splitting levels in the race for who will take Obama’s place as president next year.
But he also admitted that he was partly to blame for the highly partisan environment by failing to reach out more to Republicans.
“American politics has never been particularly gentle or high minded, especially not during times of great change”, Obama said. But beyond those mechanical fixes, Obama says we also have to change the culture of our politics, to stop rewarding the most strident voices and recognize that compromise is not the same as selling out.
“When I woke up on February 10, 2007 in Springfield, Illinois, my heart was full of hope about the infinite possibilities that lay ahead”, Obama’s senior adviser, Valerie Jarrett, wrote in a blog post Wednesday.
In many ways, though, Obama’s call to reclaim the meaning of citizenship and restore a sense of common goal is harder than ever to achieve.
Democrats stood and clapped when Obama said the country was better off since he became president.
“Hopefully this will inspire our legislature to work with the governor… and put us on a path forward”, said Nate Hamilton, manager of media relations at the Illinois Policy Institute.
Redistricting reform is one of the issues President Obama talked about in his speech to the Illinois General Assembly Wednesday. Let the statue of Douglas (nicknamed, “Little Giant”) remain perched just up the hill from Lincoln’s on the Illinois Capitol lawn. “We think we have a very strong case to make to the citizens of IL that improving this process is crucial”, he said. He offered a few broad prescriptions for changing the political climate, including the way congressional districts are drawn and making it easier for people to vote in elections.
According to the White House, President Obama’s message to the Illinois General Assembly will be “about what we can do, together, to build a better politics – one that reflects our better selves”.
“If we can’t compromise, by definition we can’t govern ourselves”, Obama said. He held the interview with three former state senators – Republican Kirk Dillard and Democrats Larry Walsh and Denny Jacobs.
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Rauner says Emanuel has “failed” on public safety and schools.
