Post by Logan on Feb 11, 2016 4:05:34 GMT -6
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — President Barack Obama came here nine years ago to declare it was "time to turn the page" on cynical, special- interest politics. He returned Wednesday lamenting that the story hasn't changed.
In a day trip to the state capital where he began his career and also launched his presidential bid, Obama fretted over the harsh tone and hardening partisanship he says is turning off voters. He waxed nostalgic about the chummier relations and bipartisan deal-making of his youth. He appealed to state lawmakers, and the public, to rid politics of "polarization and meanness" that discourage widespread participation in civic life.
"It's gotten worse," he said bluntly in an address to the Illinois General Assembly, on the anniversary of his entry into presidential politics.
"Today, that kind of citizenship is threatened by a poisonous political climate that pushes people away from participating in our public life," Obama added. "It turns folks off. It discourages them. It makes them cynical. And when that happens, more powerful and extreme voices fill the void."
Read more: news.yahoo.com/illinois-obama-plead-unity-thats-eluded-him-085330192--politics.html
In a day trip to the state capital where he began his career and also launched his presidential bid, Obama fretted over the harsh tone and hardening partisanship he says is turning off voters. He waxed nostalgic about the chummier relations and bipartisan deal-making of his youth. He appealed to state lawmakers, and the public, to rid politics of "polarization and meanness" that discourage widespread participation in civic life.
"It's gotten worse," he said bluntly in an address to the Illinois General Assembly, on the anniversary of his entry into presidential politics.
"Today, that kind of citizenship is threatened by a poisonous political climate that pushes people away from participating in our public life," Obama added. "It turns folks off. It discourages them. It makes them cynical. And when that happens, more powerful and extreme voices fill the void."
Read more: news.yahoo.com/illinois-obama-plead-unity-thats-eluded-him-085330192--politics.html