Note: Then-Sen. Barack Obama delivered these remarks on the Senate floor, April 13, 2005.
Partisan debate is sharp, and dissent is not always well received.
Honest differences of opinion and principled compromise often seem to be the victim of a determination to score points against one’s opponents. But the American people sent us here to be their voice. They understand that those voices can at times become loud and argumentative, but they also hope we can disagree without being disagreeable.
At the end of the day, they expect both parties to work together to get the people’s business done. What they do not expect is for one party, be it Republican or Democrat, to change the rules in the middle of the game so they can make all the decisions while the other party is told to sit down and keep quiet.
The American people want less partisanship in this town, but everyone in this chamber knows that if the majority chooses to end the filibuster, if they choose to change the rules and put an end to democratic debate, then the fighting, the bitterness, and the gridlock will only get worse. …
We need to rise above ‘‘the ends justify the means’’ mentality because we are here to answer to the people — all of the people, not just the ones who are wearing our particular party label. …
I sense that talk of the nuclear option is more about power than about fairness. …
If the right of free and open debate is taken away from the minority party and the millions of Americans who ask us to be their voice, I fear the partisan atmosphere in Washington will be poisoned to the point where no one will be able to agree on anything. That does not serve anybody’s best interest, and it certainly is not what the patriots who founded this democracy had in mind. We owe the people who sent us here more than that. We owe them much more.
