Romney Blaming Obama for Congressional Obstruction
I do not love the term ‘Romnesia’ but perhaps it captures something important about the candidate, because anyone who was paying attention for the past three years can only conclude that the president tried repeatedly to reach across the aisle and was repeatedly (and disrespectfully) rebuffed by Republicans in Congress who publicly announced noncooperation as their objective. 

 

And remembering the daily disrespectful and removed from reality part is important in evaluating Romney’s current claim…the president was portrayed by obstructionist Republicans in Congress as deeply unworthy of working with, painting him as an illegitimate alien (calls for his birth certificate are still heard), a Muslim who follows a radical Christian preacher, and a socialist (for proposing a market-based approach to health care reform and market-based ideas like cap ‘n trade that, before he reached across the aisle to support them, were Republican proposals).

But in reality, the president took a Republican idea (individual mandate) and put it at the center of his health care reform bill.  He offered to cut spending $10 for every $1 in new revenue (a deal non-Tea-Party Republicans wanted to eagerly accept but their Tea Party allies angrily rejected as ‘compromise’). 

This is serious reaching across the aisle, as demonstrated by the fact that most Democrats wanted the president to stick to a single-payer approach to health care reform and would likely have found the 10:1 plan difficult to swallow as well.  But that is what democratic compromise in the face of a great recession called for, and the president delivered, until Republicans in Congress just said no. 

The president believes we are all better off when the two parties work together to solve problems and only a failure to remember our most recent three years could allow us to accept this Romney claim as anything but seriously damaging nonsense.  We need to support leaders who walk the walk of working across the aisle. 

In the Romney ad, he contrasts this fairy tale about ‘cooperative Republicans in Congress’ with his own record in Massachusetts…forgetting to note, as the HPost reminds us, that “in just one term, Romney drove the state down to 47th out of 50th in job creation, increased per capita debt to the largest in the nation, left his successor a $1 billion deficit, and pushed through a tax cut that overwhelmingly benefited 278 of the wealthiest residents while raising taxes and fees on everyone else."

While his record in Massachusetts includes successes he hardly mentions in the campaign, few from my home state remember his leadership as remarkable for his capacity to reach across the aisle.