President Obama: "The problem is I don’t have enough votes -- full stop" [View all]

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President Obama swings Babe Ruth's bat as he tours the National Baseball Hall of Fame


excerpt from remarks by President Obama at DSCC Dinner -- May 23, Chicago, IL:

. . . I need a new Congress. But at a minimum, I’ve got to have a Democratic Senate. And that’s why you’re here. Which leads me to my last point: If, in fact, people agree with us, why is it so hard for us to get a Democratic Senate and a Democratic House? Well, part of it is demographics. I was in Brooklyn with de Blasio -- this is right before he was about to be elected -- and we were coming from this wonderful school that’s training kids in math and science. And we’re driving down Brooklyn and crowds are cheering, and we go into this place to buy some cheesecake and people are hugging me -- and, oh, my uncle just got on Obamacare and it’s terrific. And a woman yells out, what can I do to help? And I said, move to Nebraska! (Laughter.) I don’t need 80 percent of the vote in New York City -- (laughter) -- or Chicago. But Democrats tend to congregate a little more densely, which puts us at a disadvantage in the House. Obviously, the nature of the Senate means that California has the same number of Senate seats as Wyoming. That puts us at a disadvantage. Gerrymandering in many of these states puts us at a disadvantage.

So there are some structural reasons why, despite the fact that Republican ideas are largely rejected by the public, it’s still hard for us to break through. But the second reason is we have a congenital disease, which is we don’t like voting in midterms. Our voters are younger, more minorities, more single women, more working-class folks who are busy and trying to get to work, trying to find work. And oftentimes we opt out during midterms. If we had the same turnout in 2012 that we had had in 2010, I might have lost. Instead, of course, we had a very significant and solid victory.

So this is pretty straightforward -- I need more votes. I need more people voting to reflect our values and what we care about and our stance on the issues, which, in turn, leads to senators and congressman who then vote on behalf of actually getting stuff done. A bunch of you, because you’ve known me for a long time, came up and commiserated while we were taking pictures -- oh, these folks are so mean and there’s always slinging and hurling stones and arrows at you, and all this. And I said, you know what, it turns out -- maybe I’m from Chicago -- I’m a tough guy. It doesn’t really bother me too much.

There is one thing that bothers me, which is when I hear folks saying, oh, you know, if you just play golf with John Boehner more -- (laughter) -- and we’re just trying harder to be more bipartisan, then we’d get more stuff done. That’s not the problem. (Laughter.) On every issue we are more than happy to sit down in reasonable fashion and compromise. The problem is not that we’re too mean or we’re too partisan. The problem is I don’t have enough votes -- full stop.

The first two years, when we had a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate, we had the most productive legislature since the 1960s, since Lyndon Johnson -- more significant, meaningful domestic legislation than any time since Medicare was passed. House Republicans take over and we now have -- you remember Harry Truman with the do-nothing Congress? This is a less productive Congress than the do-nothing Congress. (Laughter.) This Congress makes the do-nothing Congress look like the New Deal. (Laughter.)

So I need everybody to feel a sense of urgency. That’s what we’re here tonight to talk about. And whatever else I say, whatever issues you are concerned about, ultimately it translates into math -- are we turning out voters who, in turn, produce majorities that allow us to advance the values that we care about. Everything else is just talk. And if we don’t feel that sense of urgency in this election, we’re going to have problems. And if we do, then in the next two and half years we can make as much progress as we did the first two years I was in office.


read entire speech: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/05/23/remarks-president-dscc-dinner-chicago-il



Doug Mills ‏@dougmillsnyt
President Obama gets breakfast at Valois Cafeteria in Chicago, IL, eggs, bacon & hash browns.. pic.twitter.com/eqAfGVs67B