“Both sides can take some blame for a sour climate on Capitol Hill,” Obama said, adding that Democrats and Republicans need to be careful in choosing their rhetoric. “A ton of civility instead of slash and burn would be helpful.”
The president highlighted what he said was problematic GOP rhetoric on his health care proposals. Republicans, he said, had characterized the proposed program as some “kind of Bolshevik plot.”
In fact, he said that much of his plan was similar to what Republicans had proposed during the failed Clinton-era push to overhaul health care.
Both sides need to “close the gap a little bit between rhetoric and reality,” the president argued. Calling his health care plan “some wild-eyed plot to impose big government in every aspect of our lives” leaves little room for bipartisan negotiation, Obama said.
