Obama: GOP Going Through a 'Phase;' 'It'll Outgrow that Phase'

Ben Graham | March 17, 2015
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President Obama says the Republican Party is going through a "phase" - and that "It'll outgrow that phase."

In a video interview with Vice News, Obama says that Republicans have "led the way" in the past, but are now going through an obstructionist "phase":

He admits that there were times in the past where the Republicans led the way against a tide of unreasonable Democrats. But that's just not the case anymore. Obama says that these days there isn't any sort of political gridlock. There just happens to be a side of the argument that denies facts and opposes legislation purely for the purpose of opposing.

“There have been times in history where Democrats have been unreasonable. There have been times where Republicans have led the way. But right now, on a lot of the issues that young people care about, it’s not both sides arguing and creating gridlock. You’ve got one side that is denying the facts. Who are often motivated, principally, by opposing whatever it is that I propose."

But, Obama says he may not have time to wait for this Republican "phase" to pass, because the dangers are too great and developing too fast:

"Now, that’s not inevitable to our democracy. That’s a phase that the Republican Party’s going through right now and it’ll outgrow that phase. The thing that we do have to worry about is the fact that the pace of change globally is so quick that we may not have the luxury of 20 years or ten years of not getting a lot done. If we want to deal with not just climate change but the potential for a pandemic with terrorism, with the challenges around cyber security - some of these things are just moving."

 

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