Rhetoric and Arrogance Meets Reality

For those of you who had the opportunity to watch President Obama address the Republican caucus on Friday, you were able to witness Obama in a setting that forced him to account for his actions the past year...well...sort of. This gathering of the minority party, who the Democrats have summarily dismissed as the party of (no) and devoid of ideas worthy of consideration, was in no mood to give this President a pass. Speech after speech by the President as he traveled America this past year, and spoke to hand-picked crowds, was filled with zingers about the opposite party, and, how their only agenda was the Presidents demise, at the expense of America...but those words were thrown back at him during his meeting with the Republicans on Friday afternoon.
It is hard for me to agree with some of the media who say that the President showed great fortitude and leadership by (finally) meeting with, and having a substantive conversation with his opposition. Had Obama come in a spirit of openness...and just a hint of humility...I believe many more Americans would give him credit for at least trying to act bipartisan in spirit, if not in reality.
I commend those Senators, and Representatives for not being awe-struck at the mere presence of President Obama, and sticking to their agenda of holding the President accountable for not only his progressive agenda, but on his campaign promises, and his own words. The President, for his part, when pressed to answer hard questions, virtually bristled...and became combative...in most cases without directly answering the question. This was especially true on questions of transparency (remember the promise of C-Span cameras during the health care negotiation process) and accountability for policies enacted since he took office. We were again treated to the tried and true Bush bashing. And so...WAS this a positive meeting? Yes, I believe it was, but so much more could have been accomplished by these representatives working together with the President and his party, had he met with them after his First address to congress. Instead, he arrogantly, and mistakenly, believed his victory in 2009 gave him a mandate that did not include listening to that other 47% of Americans who did not vote to elect Obama president; an error in judgement that has given the GOP 3 amazing victories recently, capped with the highly unlikely victory in Massachusetts by Scott Brown. Open the dialogue with your opponents in congress, Mr President, and for America's sake...ALL AMERICANS...lose the arrogance.