Obama Announced He Was Running For President Nine Years Ago Today

Obama is the fourth sitting president to address the Illinois General Assembly, the last since 1978.

“He was very relaxed and I thought he gave a great speech in terms of the issues that are dividing our country as well as the legislature here in Illinois”, Pritchard said.

During President Barack Obama’s address to the Illinois General Assembly on Wednesday, a call for a budget was met by standing applause, said Rep. Bob Pritchard (R-Hinckley).

About 35 minutes into his address, the president made mention of the ongoing political gridlock in IL.

Obama is addressing state lawmakers in Springfield’s state Capitol, the place where he got his political start as a state Senator. The message comes just as both Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns become more aggressive in their attacks heading into the SC primaries and Nevada caucuses.

The Illinois legislature has been bitterly divided over how to proceed economically as the state is now in its eighth month without a budget.

“I was honored that President Obama affirmed my decision to find a compromise to bring people together”, Dunkin told Ward Room. “We voted against each other all the time…but those relationships, that trust we built meant that we came at each debate assuming the best about each other, not the worst”, he said. “We must strive for bipartisan reform that is needed to save our state and protect the families of IL”.

Mr. Jacobs, who is white, said in the Times article that many Americans feared Mr. Obama because of his race.

He renewed his call for an end to bitter partisanship.

In the presidential campaign to succeed him, Republicans are arguing about whether to ban Muslims from the USA and are trading personal epithets barely suitable for print. On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders is calling for political revolution fueled by animosity toward corporate interests. Illinois Democrats strongly oppose measures that would cut back workers’ rights. He admitted that he learned in the Illinois State Senate about a “better kind of politics” but has been unable to translate that to Washington.

The White House recently posted a desultory answer to the petition that quotes Obama as saying that “We have to reduce the influence of money in our politics” – but doesn’t acknowledge the petition’s demand that Obama, not “we”, take specific action. “When we know whatever the final resolution is and what the impacts are we’ll deal with it and in the meantime … we’re just trying to keep things status quo while still doing things”.

“If they see us insulting each other like school kids then they think well I guess that’s how people are supposed to behave”. “As the President noted, our problems are not new and compromise is not a sign of weakness, but necessary for self-government”.