President Obama admitted Tuesday night that one of his few regrets is that he was unable to reduce partisan fighting, and that it actually got worse while he was in office.
“It’s one of the few regrets of my presidency, that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better,” Obama said, alluding to his promise to end Washington’s bitter partisanship when he took office in 2009.
“There’s no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee I’ll keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office,” he promised.
“You said the time has come to move beyond the bitterness and pettiness and anger that’s consumed Washington,” then-Sen. Obama said in 2008 during a speech in Des Moines, Iowa. “To end the political strategy that’s been all about division and instead make it about addition. To build a coalition for change that stretches through red states and blue states. We are choosing hope over fear. We’re choosing unity over division and sending a powerful message that change is coming to America.”
On Tuesday night, Obama implored congressional Republicans and voters alike to help the country move past the nastiness.
“But, my fellow Americans, this cannot be my task, or any president’s, alone,” he said. “There are a whole lot of folks in this chamber who would like to see more cooperation, a more elevated debate in Washington, but feel trapped by the demands of getting elected.”
