President Obama, down in the polls and still stinging from the “shellacking” Democrats took in November’s midterm elections, on Wednesday basked in the string of victories he scored in a lame-duck session of Congress he called the “most productive postelection periods we’ve had in decades.” Obama on Wednesday delivered on a major campaign promise by signing into law the repeal of the nearly two-decade-old ban on gays serving openly in the military then, hours later, celebrated the Senate ratification of a new nuclear arms treaty with Russia that he forced through despite Republican opposition on Capitol Hill.
Both victories followed congressional approval of a controversial tax bill Obama negotiated with Senate Republicans over the objection of fellow Democrats that delivered on his promise of a middle-class tax cut and Democrats’ desire to extended jobless benefits, though it also forced the president to accept an extension of tax cuts to the rich.
That long list of accomplishments, Obama said, proved that “we are not doomed to endless gridlock.
“My hope,” he said at a year-end news conference at the White House, “is that heading into the new year we can continue to heed the message of the American people and hold to a spirit of common purpose.”
The question for Obama now is whether he can continue that kind of productivity into the new year when Republicans take over the House and increase their number in the Senate.
Republicans have made clear that they will attempt to repeal some of the key victories Obama scored in his first two years in office, particularly the health care reforms he signed into law earlier this year.
Obama vowed to fight on over those issues.
“I hope people have seen in me during this lame-duck session is that I am persistent,” he said. “When I believe in something, I stay on it.”
Despite his winning streak, Obama said the lame-duck session was not without its disappointments. In particular, he cited his failure to push through immigration reforms, called the Dream Act, that would have provided a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants who were brought to this country as children. He pledged to reintroduce the measure next year.
“I am going to go back to it,” he said. “I’m going to engage Republicans who know in their hearts it’s the right thing to do, but don’t like the politics of it. … I’ve gotta change the politics and I’ve got to spend time talking to the American people.”
Obama said he believes his lame-duck successes prove compromises can be found.
The work that was done “over the last several weeks is not a victory for me, it’s a victory for the American people,” Obama said. The lesson: “It’s possible for Democrats and Republicans to find common ground.”
