“Nine years to the day that I first announced for this office I still believe in that politics of hope”. Trump, who has called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, won the New Hampshire Republican primary on Tuesday as the parties hold state-by-state nominating contests for the November 8 election to succeed Obama.
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Illinois Republicans have long sought a better shot at winning seats in the General Assembly, and they leapt to their feet applauding Obama which prompted the president to emphasize a caveat.
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 wants to “make voting easier”, by allowing same-day registration and weekend voting hours for working people.
Rep. Sue Scherer, a Decatur Democrat, said she hopes Obama’s address can be the start of new efforts to come together, noting that lawmakers seemed more congenial afterward.
“He has challenged each and every one of us to be the solution, to rise above rhetoric, refuse to be so easily divided and recognize avenues for agreement even among those who disagree”, Cullerton said in a statement. “We have to build a better politics”, he said.
So if President Obama isn’t the one to change the political stalemate, maybe someone should check on the Pope’s availability. Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, Democrats who control the Legislature, and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel have exchanged criticism – sometimes uncomfortably personal – over the state budget mess, Chicago’s schools, Rauner’s appointments and more. Obama’s visit will mark the nine-year anniversary of his presidential campaign announcement on the steps of the Old State Capitol in 2007.
“Today, [united] citizenship is threatened by a poisonous political climate that pushes people away from participating in our public life”, Obama said. He repeated that lament Wednesday, calling “my inability to reduce the polarization and meanness in our politics” one of his few regrets as president. It turns folks off. It discourages them, makes them cynical.
The White House says his speech will focus on building better politics.
HORSLEY: Obama says partisans who brag about refusing to cut deals simply block what most Americans would regard as actual progress – fixing roads, educating kids, passing budgets.
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Yepsen said that while no reliable polls have been produced in IL to get a read of how the state’s voters feel between Sanders and Clinton, income inequality continues to be a chief concern in the state. It was a place where, for all our surface differences in a state as diverse as IL, my colleagues and I actually shared a lot in common.
