DEE EVANS FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

I am so sick and tired of the media chastising President Obama for his so-called failure to “sit down” or “meet” or “cooperate” with Republicans in Congress during these fiscal cliff negotiations.

Joe Scarborough of MSNBC’s Morning Joe went on another tirade this morning about how President Obama “can’t seem to get along” with Republicans in Congress. I even heard Andrea Mitchell on her MSNBC show question why President Obama does not invite John Boehner and the Republicans to Camp David for talks on the fiscal cliff. Many have asked why doesn’t Obama have a “happy hour” and invite the Republicans over for drinks? Really, are we that dim?

Well, I have news for all of those in the media with these constant selective memory loops, President Obama spent the better part of the first three (3) years of his presidency trying to “cooperate” and “sit down” with these Republicans and was constantly slapped down and rebuffed.

Let’s recap, shall we?

~Two months after John Boehner won the speaker’s gavel in the 2010 mid-tern elections, President Obama invited Speaker John Boehner to the White House State Dinner for Chinese President Hu Jintao…Boehner said NO.

~The week before that, President Obama invited Speaker John Boehner to ride on Air Force One with him to Tucson, Arizona for the memorial ceremony for those killed in the shooting with then Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords…Boehner said NO.

~Just days after the November 2010 elections, Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell cancelled their first post-election bi-partisan meeting with President Obama due to “scheduling conflicts”.

~And what about all those invitations President Obama has extended to various Republicans every year since 2009 to come to the White House to watch the Super Bowl and many of them telling him…NO.

~And let’s not forget the more recent example that Rachel Maddow of MSNBC laid out on her show right after the 2012 presidential election of President Obama calling both Boehner and McConnell following his re-election speech and being told that both were “asleep”! Ever heard of the President of the United States calling the Speaker of the House (3rd in line to the presidency), regardless of the time, and the President was told that the Speaker was ASLEEP! Now that’s a new one!

This selective memory gap with our illustrious media is really beginning to chafe my butt! President Obama has taken major heat for years from members of his own party and is constantly being strung up by liberals and progressives on the left for being “too accommodating” and trying “too hard” to cooperate with Republicans and NOW everyone is asking why doesn’t President Obama Try harder? Really?!

New York Times article from February 2009 titled Obama Woos GOP With Attention and Cookies article from February 2009 titled states, “Since the inauguration, one of the hottest tickets in town has been an invitation to the White House. And Republicans have been scoring them nearly as often as Democrats. The president has held a cocktail reception for a bipartisan group of legislators, conducted sit-down meetings with House and Senate leaders of both parties and staged an indoor tailgate party Sunday to watch the Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Arizona Cardinals.”

And one more thing. Let’s not forget that many of these Republicans were the same ones who had a meeting the very night of President Obama’s inauguration in 2009 to strategize on how to defeat him and pledged that they would not cooperate with him on anything! Mind you this was before Obama had passed any legislation or signed one bill. Before President Obama even opened his mouth they had already decided that they did not like him, they would not work with him and they wanted him out of office! Now, how in the hell do you “cooperate” with that?!

President Obama has tried from DAY ONE to forge a bi-partisan atmosphere and get along with Republicans in Congress and at almost every turn he has been rebuffed and disrespected. People on the right are more interested in his Kenyan birth or his college transcripts or falsely blaming Holder for Fast and Furious or concocting conspiracy theories about Solyndra or getting to the bottom of how UN Ambassador Rice somehow managed to personally set fire to the US embassy in Benghazi.

People on the right simply do not want to work with him. See, that might make Rush Limbaugh or Grover Norquist upset…and we can’t have that can we? So please stop giving me this hogwash about how BOTH sides are doing it and President Obama should be the leader and try harder to work with Republicans, because guess what…he’s been there, done that! Now, let the Republicans try it for awhile!