AP Photo Obama knocks GOP and his own party in a plea for better politics The president acknowledges the 'poisonous political climate' has grown worse during his tenure.

In the middle of a heated race to succeed him, President Barack Obama pleaded for more civility in politics, and heaped plenty of blame at the feet of his own party.



Nine years to the day he announced his presidential campaign in Springfield, Illinois, Obama returned to where it all began to warn on Wednesday of the effects of a "poisonous political climate" that has only grown more noxious since he took up residence in Washington.



Calling for a more perfect union, Obama urged an end to the cynical and divisive politics that have defined the American landscape in recent years, in no small measure due to the rise of Donald Trump, whose name went unmentioned but whose rhetoric seemed to be playing in the president's ear as he spoke.



“Our children are watching what we do. They don’t just learn it in school. They learn it by watching us. The way we conduct ourselves, the way we treat each other. If we lie about each other, they learn it’s OK to lie. If they make up facts and ignore science, then they just think it’s their opinion that matters. If they see us insulting each other like schoolkids, then they think, well, I guess that’s how people are supposed to behave," the president said. "The way we respect—or don’t—each other as citizens will determine whether or not the hard, frustrating but absolutely necessary work of self-government that continues.”





But Obama did not let his own party off the hook, remarking upon how "difficult our politics has become."



"Because folks are worried, I'm going to get yelled at by here or some blogger's going to write that or you know this talk-show host is going to talk about me and someway I've got to challenge her and calling me a RINO or you know not a real progressive," he said.


The term “real progressive” has become a point of heated contention – and increasingly nasty rhetoric -- in the Democratic race, with Bernie Sanders challenging Hillary Clinton’s credentials. Obama himself is said to have been irked by Sanders’ knock on him as a disappointment to progressives.



"So when I hear voices in either party boast of their refusal to compromise as an accomplishment in and of itself, I'm not impressed," Obama declared. "All that does is prevent what most Americans would consider actual accomplishments like fixing roads, educating kids, passing budgets, cleaning our environment, making our streets safe.



"It cuts both ways, guys. Suddenly everybody's standing," he said, remarking upon the standing ovation from both sides of the aisle after only Democrats applauded him previously. Obama made note of that observation. "This is fascinating to watch. Cuts both ways," he mused.



Addressing the chamber where he served as a state senator, the president invoked famous Illinoisans from Abraham Lincoln to Adlai Stevenson as he offered his vision for the country while acknowledging that many of the challenges he promised to tackle during that February 2007 speech on the steps of the Old State Capitol remain.



"We didn’t call each other idiots or fascists who were trying to destroy America," Obama said of his time in the state senate. "Because then we’d have to explain why we're playing poker or having a drink with an idiot or a fascist who was trying to destroy America. And that respect gave us room for progress."



Reiterating as he had done in his final State of the Union Address, Obama lamented that he could not make that translate to Washington while touting his administration's successes, from health care to the killing of Osama bin Laden.



"There's no doubt that America's better off today than when I took office," he said, drawing applause from the Democratic-controlled legislature.





In explaining his concern for the country's "poisonous" political rhetoric, Obama remarked that "our progress is not inevitable, it might be fought for and won by all of us."



“And today that kind of citizenship is threatened by a poisonous political climate that pushes people away from participating in our public life," he said. "It turns folks off. It discourages them. It makes them cynical. And when that happens, more powerful and extreme voices fill the void. And when that happens, progress stalls."



Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican, said he welcomed Obama's visit and hoped it could help bridge the partisan divide in a state Legislature deadlocked on an operating budget.



"The president said it. I agree with him and the voters of Illinois agree with him," Rauner told Chicago's ABC affiliate on Tuesday, anticipating the president's words on term limits and redistricting reform, two areas where Obama and the governor have both said there needs to be reform.



Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), who is running in the state's Democratic Senate primary for Republican Sen. Mark Kirk's seat, came as Obama's invited guest.



This article tagged under: Barack Obama

Illinois