Obama said, "I'm prepared to make a whole range of compromises"

[bhikkhu]

25. From the interview:

"The problem we've got right now is we've got a Republican Congress that is closely aligned with Governor Romney's perspective that is blocking some of the progress that we could be making.

Q. Well, that's exactly what I want to ask you about next. Let's say you win—okay, that's a hypothetical that you would probably buy into. But say you win, but the House Republicans win again also, a likely possibility. How is that any different from what we have now? Why wouldn't a voter look at that and say that's a recipe for stalemate. How would you do anything differently?

Obama: Well, there are a couple things that I think change. No. 1, the American people will have voted. They will have cast a decisive view on how we should move the country forward, and I would hope that the Republican Party, after a fulsome debate, would say to itself, we need to listen to the American people.

I think what is also true is that because of the mechanisms that have been set up, agreed to by Republicans, that have already cut a trillion dollars' worth of spending out of the federal deficit, but now we've got to find an additional trillion—$1.2 trillion, I guess—before the end of the year, means that the Republicans will have to make a very concrete decision about whether they're willing to cooperate on a balanced package.

If they don't, then I'm going to have to look at how we can work around Congress to make sure that middle-class families are protected, but that we're still doing our—meeting our responsibilities when it comes to deficit reduction and investing in the future.

Q. But, I mean, I can certainly see Republicans, led by Speaker Boehner, saying the same thing—the American people voted, we're back in power, too. They're not going to change their position on taxes, on climate change, on immigration. So I mean, if you could—if I could just push a little further on that, how do you see that dynamic changing?

Obama: Well, look, there are some proposals that they put forward that we're not going to compromise on because I believe it would be bad for the country and bad for middle-class families.

I don't think it would be a good idea to pursue an approach that voucherizes Medicare and raises taxes on middle-class families to give wealthy individuals a tax break. So if that's the mandate that Republicans receive, then there's still going to be some serious arguments here in Washington.

But what I'm offering the American people is a balanced approach that the majority agrees with, including a lot of Republicans. And for me to be able to say to the Republicans, the election is over; you no longer need to be focused on trying to beat me; what you need to be focused on and what you should have been focused on from the start is how do we advance the American economy—I'm prepared to make a whole range of compromises, some of which I get criticized from the Democratic Party on, in order to make progress. But we're going to need compromise on your side as well. And the days of viewing compromise as a dirty word need to be over because the American people are tired of it.

That's, I think, a message that will resonate not with every Republican, but I think with a lot of fair-minded Republican legislators who probably feel somewhat discouraged about having served in one of the least productive Congresses in American history.

And I hear—not in public, but in private—that many of them would like to go ahead and get some stuff done because they recognize that our children and our grandchildren have a stake in us being able to get this work done."

on edit - when I read that, I see our president working for our best interests. Period. I don't think that he has some secret agenda or devious intent any tinfoil RW crap like that, which is what you would have to think to worry about the statement.