Obama: ‘You Can’t Change Washington from the Inside’

Obama admits he's in the wrong place to change Washington.

From the article:

President Obama has learned something during his presidency: You can’t change Washington from the inside.

“The most important lesson I’ve learned is that you can’t change Washington from the inside,” he told a Univision forum Thursday. “You can only change it from the outside.”

The remark immediately set off the political media on Twitter.

“(This) is perhaps Obama’s worst gaffe since he met Joe the Plumber?” BuzzFeed editor Ben Smith asked on Twitter Thursday afternoon.

http://freebeacon.com/obama-you-cant...om-the-inside/

Romney's response: Mitt Romney has seized on President Barack Obama's statement that he 'can't change Washington from the inside by telling him: 'He can only change it from outside? Well, we're going to give him a chance in November. He's going outside!'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...g-outside.html

See? There is still plenty of time for either candidate to say something stupid to lose the election.

No one can if they won't work with them...

The nation can achieve bi-partisanship if the nation's president wants it. It is as simple as that, working in a bi-partisan manner. Reagan did, daddy bush certainly did and was tricked and lied to by the dems, even Clinton did after being forced to upon losing the house, George W did too with the war votes, his no child left behind and the prescription drug Medicare part d bill.

During most of my life republican presidents have always worked in a bi-partisan manner, they had to to get things done for the dems long held the congress.

This president has exhibited no leadership, extreme arrogance and a haughtiness that is laughable given his ignorance and inexperience. His brutal stuff this down your throat manner only worked when he controlled both houses. The rescue of America by the change of power in the house didn't cause this man to temper his anti- American extremism one bit

This whole concept of "only an outsider can change Washington" was wrong when Obama used it against McCain, and wrong when Romney is now using it against Obama. It is an illogical, stupid concept but is sells well to dumb voters on both sides of the aisle.

True "outsiders" are exceedingly rare. It isn't even a defined term. The fact that you may not have held an elected or apointed position in DC doesn't make you an "outsider". It is a mindset far more than an address. Was Bush-2 an "outsider" because he didn't hold an elected federal office? Was Clinton an "outsider"? That would be just stupid. My ATF's benefactor never held a political office--they didn't pay enough--and never had a DC residence--other than the one he bought her--but spent almost 200 days a year in DC, usually in the company of Senators, Secretaries, or in the Oval Office. An outsider?

If you found a true outsider they would almost certainly not have the name recognition, contacts, or organization to get a major party nomination. Who is the last one who even got close? Maybe Reagan. Before that?

And if elected, what do they instantly become, an Insider. They bring in their own advisors, Cabinet, etc. Typically they carry their party to qa strong position in Congress. What about that makes them an "outsider"?

But most important to this discussion, if they were an outsider who somehow got the nomination and then won the election, AND kept a true "outsider" mentaility, he would get NOTHING accomplished. NOTHING. He may play the country bumpkin to the press and his adoring fans, but if he didn't bend to the way DC politics actually works he would make the last year of Bush-2 look like a dynamic whirlwind.

Old-T. Read the article. It's Obama saying he can't change Washington from the inside. IJS

The nation can achieve bi-partisanship if the nation's president wants it. It is as simple as that, working in a bi-partisan manner. Reagan did, daddy bush certainly did and was tricked and lied to by the dems, even Clinton did after being forced to upon losing the house, George W did too with the war votes, his no child left behind and the prescription drug Medicare part d bill.

During most of my life republican presidents have always worked in a bi-partisan manner, they had to to get things done for the dems long held the congress.

This president has exhibited no leadership, extreme arrogance and a haughtiness that is laughable given his ignorance and inexperience. His brutal stuff this down your throat manner only worked when he controlled both houses. The rescue of America by the change of power in the house didn't cause this man to temper his anti- American extremism one bit Originally Posted by nevergaveitathought

I partially agree with you, but it has to be more than the president. It has to be the leadership in both parties. Right now both parties are controlled by people who seem to believe politics is about Good ("Us") and Evil ("Them").

I don't think Clinton was as far from center as the RWWs made him out to be, and I don't think Bush-2 was either (I saw him as in way over his head, but a basicly good person). The current political hate war started when Bush-2 abducated his presidency to Cheney/Rove and has continued with Obama. Partially because of their positions farther from the center, partially because it's turned into a "Well THEY did this to US so we're going to make them pay" attitude (and in Obama's case, partially because some Southerners can't get over a black man being president) we are in a very bad place right now.

I never believed McCain or ANY republican was going to win in 2008--the anti Bush/Cheney sentiment was too high--but I do think if McCain had somehow won there was a chance for some reconciliation.