This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/20/obama-redistricting-establishment-partisanship
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Obama's post-presidency focus on redistricting is an establishment move | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| We’re in the era where a president’s legacy extends decades after they leave the White House. | We’re in the era where a president’s legacy extends decades after they leave the White House. |
| Jimmy Carter, now in his 90s, and his wife, Rosalynn have helped build more than 4,000 homes for Habitat for Humanity since he was ingloriously forced into early retirement three decades ago. In 2010, at the request of Barack Obama, former presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush put party aside and teamed up to help rebuild Haiti after our island neighbor was devastated by an earthquake. | Jimmy Carter, now in his 90s, and his wife, Rosalynn have helped build more than 4,000 homes for Habitat for Humanity since he was ingloriously forced into early retirement three decades ago. In 2010, at the request of Barack Obama, former presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush put party aside and teamed up to help rebuild Haiti after our island neighbor was devastated by an earthquake. |
| So what’s in store for Obama when he leaves the White House in January at a relatively youthful 55 years old? As of now, the answer seems to be: partisanship. | So what’s in store for Obama when he leaves the White House in January at a relatively youthful 55 years old? As of now, the answer seems to be: partisanship. |
| Reports have come out this week that Obama plans to devote some of his new free time to focusing on making state legislatures and Congress more Democratic, though not necessarily more democratic. He’s joining an effort with fellow Democrats to make state legislatures blue in the run up to the next census so that progressives have more control over redrawing district maps. | Reports have come out this week that Obama plans to devote some of his new free time to focusing on making state legislatures and Congress more Democratic, though not necessarily more democratic. He’s joining an effort with fellow Democrats to make state legislatures blue in the run up to the next census so that progressives have more control over redrawing district maps. |
| Obama’s plan to team up with divisive former attorney general Eric Holder to combat conservative gerrymandering through liberal gerrymandering is troubling. It reveals Obama has now become the very establishment he ran against in 2008. Maybe one shouldn’t drink the water in Washington after all. | Obama’s plan to team up with divisive former attorney general Eric Holder to combat conservative gerrymandering through liberal gerrymandering is troubling. It reveals Obama has now become the very establishment he ran against in 2008. Maybe one shouldn’t drink the water in Washington after all. |
| Remember the soaring pre-packaged and poll-tested promises of hope and change Obama sold the nation in his first electrifying presidential bid? It seems he gave up on those ideals when Republicans pummeled his party in the 2010 midterms. | Remember the soaring pre-packaged and poll-tested promises of hope and change Obama sold the nation in his first electrifying presidential bid? It seems he gave up on those ideals when Republicans pummeled his party in the 2010 midterms. |
| Or maybe Obama got a renewed sense of what’s really wrong with Washington when he won the popular vote in his 2012 reelection, while Republicans maintained their majority in the House of Representatives. | Or maybe Obama got a renewed sense of what’s really wrong with Washington when he won the popular vote in his 2012 reelection, while Republicans maintained their majority in the House of Representatives. |
| Don’t get me wrong: gerrymandering is a huge national problem. But partisan solutions to a national problem just breed more soul-sucking partisanship. | Don’t get me wrong: gerrymandering is a huge national problem. But partisan solutions to a national problem just breed more soul-sucking partisanship. |
| Look at Washington DC’s two neighbors: Virginia and Maryland. Virginia has two Democratic senators, yet Republicans hold eight of the state’s 11 House seats – conservative gerrymandering at its worst. | Look at Washington DC’s two neighbors: Virginia and Maryland. Virginia has two Democratic senators, yet Republicans hold eight of the state’s 11 House seats – conservative gerrymandering at its worst. |
| But Democrats in neighboring Maryland are no better. The state had long had two Republicans serving in the US House until former governor Martin O’Malley teamed up with fellow Democrats to oust one of those Republicans by creating a district that zigs and zags across four disparate counties for some 225 miles. | But Democrats in neighboring Maryland are no better. The state had long had two Republicans serving in the US House until former governor Martin O’Malley teamed up with fellow Democrats to oust one of those Republicans by creating a district that zigs and zags across four disparate counties for some 225 miles. |
| Both sides are guilty, which is why gerrymandering should be dealt with by setting up a national bipartisan commission that removes party from the process of drawing district lines, not by having Democrats out-gerrymander their Republican counterparts. What the nation needs right now is healing, not more pitched partisanship funded by the nation’s political class. | Both sides are guilty, which is why gerrymandering should be dealt with by setting up a national bipartisan commission that removes party from the process of drawing district lines, not by having Democrats out-gerrymander their Republican counterparts. What the nation needs right now is healing, not more pitched partisanship funded by the nation’s political class. |
| The Obama of 2008 would likely be teaming up with a Republican, maybe even George W Bush, to get partisanship out of redistricting altogether. But the politicized Obama of 2016 is leaving office with what seems to be a chip on his shoulder and a vendetta against Republicans whom he and his insular team say blunted their progressive mandate. | The Obama of 2008 would likely be teaming up with a Republican, maybe even George W Bush, to get partisanship out of redistricting altogether. But the politicized Obama of 2016 is leaving office with what seems to be a chip on his shoulder and a vendetta against Republicans whom he and his insular team say blunted their progressive mandate. |
| But Obama isn’t blameless in the slide from “hope and change” to partisan gridlock. Republican leaders often bemoan the lack of communication from the White House even though they control the gavels on both sides of Capitol Hill. And even congressional Democrats have complained they haven’t heard enough from President Obama, even as they’ve done the heavy lifting for getting parts of his agenda through Congress. | But Obama isn’t blameless in the slide from “hope and change” to partisan gridlock. Republican leaders often bemoan the lack of communication from the White House even though they control the gavels on both sides of Capitol Hill. And even congressional Democrats have complained they haven’t heard enough from President Obama, even as they’ve done the heavy lifting for getting parts of his agenda through Congress. |
| “You know, a quarterback that doesn’t communicate with his offensive line can still win games,” Democratic Congressman Jim Moran told me of Obama’s hands-off style before he retired at the end of the last Congress. “But they don’t generally win as many games as the quarterback who, you know, embraces the line and works with them and communicates with them on a regular basis.” | “You know, a quarterback that doesn’t communicate with his offensive line can still win games,” Democratic Congressman Jim Moran told me of Obama’s hands-off style before he retired at the end of the last Congress. “But they don’t generally win as many games as the quarterback who, you know, embraces the line and works with them and communicates with them on a regular basis.” |
| That doesn’t fit well into the GOP’s narrative that Obama’s a power grabbing socialist, but, then again, that narrative has never been accurate (just don’t tell the GOP base that…). | That doesn’t fit well into the GOP’s narrative that Obama’s a power grabbing socialist, but, then again, that narrative has never been accurate (just don’t tell the GOP base that…). |
| But Obama’s post-presidency focus on gerrymandering does fit into the GOP narrative that Obama’s a partisan who’s to blame for the gridlock that’s only become worse since he entered office. | But Obama’s post-presidency focus on gerrymandering does fit into the GOP narrative that Obama’s a partisan who’s to blame for the gridlock that’s only become worse since he entered office. |
| It doesn’t have to be this way. Obama is young and still has a lot of fight in him, and it’s a shame he appears to be planning to use that energy towards partisan gains. | It doesn’t have to be this way. Obama is young and still has a lot of fight in him, and it’s a shame he appears to be planning to use that energy towards partisan gains. |
| When Obama’s out of office, he’d be wise to instead spend some time reviewing his soaring promises from 2008. They may wash away the cynicism and bitterness that marks most everyone in contemporary Washington and enable him to follow his predecessor’s examples and spend his post-presidency focusing on doing national and international good. That would be a much richer legacy than perpetuating the petty, partisan squabbles that marred much of his time serving as commander-in-chief. | When Obama’s out of office, he’d be wise to instead spend some time reviewing his soaring promises from 2008. They may wash away the cynicism and bitterness that marks most everyone in contemporary Washington and enable him to follow his predecessor’s examples and spend his post-presidency focusing on doing national and international good. That would be a much richer legacy than perpetuating the petty, partisan squabbles that marred much of his time serving as commander-in-chief. |