He did have the 60 he needed, but only for 72 days. ish.
Was Senator Byrd not hospitalized for those 72 days?
The rest is opinion. It is just a simple point of the finger and lets pretend that "you bad guys are so stupid that you only rely on fake news, which totally invalidates everything you propose or believe." It also implies that Obama has been trying desperately to reach across the aisle and accomplish meaningful legislation, while the republicans have been thwarting his every wonderful assertive move.
Of course it's an opinion.
You're arguing against a strawman with that quote. I have never said Republicans are stupid, I was a proud one myself until about 2012. I made the case that somewhere between the Clinton years and the Obama years something changed. Obama, as arrogant as he is, has governed as a rather centrist President that (warning: opinion coming up) would have gotten much more through Congress in the political climate of the 1990s.
So what changed? In my opinion it's, in part, because Obama is the first Democratic President since Roger Ailes propaganda machine, Fox News, really got under way. I think it has had a rather obvious effect on the extreme stances the GOP can get away with, or more detrimentally, what stances an individual Republican Congressman must take if he doesn't want to face the punishment Fox News can dish out.
I can't say enough for how much I loathe Roger Ailes. He's just a ruthless Machiavellian monster in my opinion, and there are plenty of articles out there about how Republicans from Nixon to W Bush have feared him.
Of course it's not all Fox News, that would be silly. Today people can pick their media outlets, which are now 24/7. That has harmed both bases. But I think the conservatives have it worse because they're better. Rush Limbaugh and Fox News just have a greater impact on their base than anything on the liberal end. They're better at a game that is ultimately detrimental to political discourse.
Even democrats have criticized him for not being active enough with congress and being too high and mighty to work with them. This is his administration, it is on him to be the deal maker, the leader, the guy who makes things happen, and then accomplishes meaningful progress.
I have never disagreed that Obama wasn't arrogant like that. Hell even Bernie Sanders has brought that up.
But the Democrats aren't the ones who saw their party's extreme stances birth a Tea Party and have to dodge similar "RINO" accusations.
The norquist pledge is stupid, but to think that republicans would be calling for higher taxes or implying that we need higher taxes without it is just as stupid. At some point in time, people on the left must realize that people who fundamentally disagree with them are not doing so because of Fox News.
Oh it's worse than that, didn't you watch the clip. The climate in that party is so bad that every candidate rejected a 10-to-1 deal on cuts to increases. How do people not see how absurd that is? That was one of the bigger moments in my decision to flee the party after 2012. I can remember that moment and Sean Hannity actually taking the time out of his program to rip on Obama for asking for dijon mustard at a Five Guys...like are you fucking kidding me?
