"What is preventing us from tackling [issues] and making more progress really has to do with our politics and our civic life," Obama asserted. "It has to do with the fact that because of things like political gerrymandering, our parties have moved further and further apart and it's harder and harder to find common ground. Because of money in politics, special interests dominate the debates in Washington in ways that don't match up with what the broad majority of Americans feel."