For more than four hours, a confederacy of Republicans assembled in the Caucus Room...plotting

[Marr]

24. Did I express anything like support for the other party?

I'm saying this is the reality of the system, and it's naive to expect it to function like a happy playground. The other team is going to block your legislation with everything they've got, if they're serious about pushing their agenda. If the policies they're blocking are popular, then they'll pay for it at the polls.

I understand that compromise on certain small points is always going to be necessary in politics. If government were a ship, you'd have to let the minority party arrange the deck chairs while the majority party sets the course.

What we've seen is not compromise, but the adoption of the other team's policies and fundamental beliefs. We have a Democratic president who talks about (and builds policy around) the idea of "job creators" driving the economy, for instance. That's trickle down economics, and it is irreconcilable with the traditional liberal view of the economy.

We've watched the minority party set the course, then lounge on deck and complain when we get there. You'd have to be an idiot to employ such a strategy, and I don't think Obama is an idiot. I think it's fairly obvious that he wants to go to most of the same ports the Republicans do. So to speak.