President Obama recounts his agenda being obstructed “because of the filibuster and Mitch McConnell systematically wanting to throw sand into the gears”
“...there comes a point at which you just have to change how the system works. The filibuster would be one.”
Washington — Last night in an episode of Pod Save America, President Barack Obama reiterated and expanded upon the comments he made at Rep. John Lewis’ funeral in July, when he called the filibuster a “Jim Crow relic” that should be eliminated if it stood in the way of progress.
Key excerpts
"...this is exactly what we were confronted with. And we had really big majorities. But, because of the filibuster and Mitch McConnell systematically wanting to throw sand into the gears, no matter how much outreach we made, as long as the Republicans could maintain unity…”
"What I have concluded, is that the answer is to change some of these structural impediments to just getting stuff done.”
"I think that if you continue to see the kind of systematic rejection of even reasonable compromise there, there comes a point at which you just have to change how the system works. The filibuster would be one.”
Full transcript of the question and comments on the filibuster
Jon Favreau: How do you govern in a way that’s both bipartisan and productive, when the only way to break the gridlock with this version of the Republican Party is through huge Democratic majorities, getting rid of the filibuster, other big structural reforms, all of which will be seen by Republicans and much of the media as extremely partisan?
Barack Obama: Well, look, as you know, this is exactly what we were confronted with. And we had really big majorities. But, because of the filibuster and Mitch McConnell systematically wanting to throw sand into the gears, no matter how much outreach we made, as long as the Republicans could maintain unity– and McConnell was very explicit about this, he said ‘Well here’s one thing I’ve learned as long as we can keep Republicans off Obama’s bills, even when it’s their proposals that used to be Republican proposals, then we can rob them of the veneer of bipartisanship. And that polarization plays to our advantage. Right? I mean, he was very systematic and strategic about it — What I have concluded, is that the answer is to change some of these structural impediments to just getting stuff done.
I mentioned that at John Lewis’ funeral about my belief that I think that we should test it. I think we should give Republicans a chance to work with us around reasonable issues. I don’t think we should be maximalist and ask for 100 percent of what we want all the time. But I think that if you continue to see the kind of systematic rejection of even reasonable compromise there, there comes a point at which you just have to change how the system works. The filibuster would be one.