Obama Celebrates Nine Years of Doing Nothing About Money in Politics

The time for that politics is over.

“When I woke up on February 10, 2007 in Springfield, Illinois, my heart was full of hope about the infinite possibilities that lay ahead”, Obama’s senior adviser, Valerie Jarrett, wrote in a blog post Wednesday.

“So when I hear voices in either party boast of their refusal to compromise as an accomplishment in and of itself, I’m not impressed”, Obama told the statehouse chamber.

Senate Assistant Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford praised the the tone and message of the president’s speech.

“If we can’t compromise, by definition we can’t govern ourselves”, Obama said.

“It will be when I run countywide”, Obama recalled his bravado response.

► Reduce the influence of money in politics.

“It’s gotten worse”, he said bluntly in an address to the Illinois General Assembly, on the anniversary of his entry into presidential politics.

“He wants to make sure that people like me are silenced so he can continue to control the state of IL with an iron fist and keep the state going backwards”, Dunkin said.

In an address to the Illinois General Assembly, Obama said he regretted his failure to apply to Washington politics the lessons he had learned about working across the political aisle as a state senator.

“The president spoke about how politics seem to be on both end of the extremes nowadays”, Beiser said.

Joens predicts Obama will have something in common with the Presidents of the past – like them, he says, Obama’s sure to mention Abraham Lincoln.

With less than year left as president, Obama is once again calling on Democrats and Republicans to work together – or to at least be more civil. On Thursday, Dunkin took it in stride, noting that he had received an invitation to the White House before Obama’s visit.

President Obama has arrived in Springfield to meet with state lawmakers. “We must strive for bipartisan reform that is needed to save our state and protect the families of IL”.

President Barack Obama has arrived at the IL state Capitol in Springfield where he is addressing lawmakers about how elected officials can work better together. “In America, politicians should not pick their voters; voters should pick their politicians”, Obama said.

Obama’s first stop in Springfield was at The Feed Store restaurant, in the Old State Capitol Square, where he greeted patrons and ordered food.

Obama says one of his first speeches as young lawmaker was eloquent and passionate and that he was “feeling pretty good” about himself. “It’s time to turn the page”, he continued.

And for state Rep. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, the speech brought hope.

“Let’s be very clear here, nobody’s got clean hands on this thing”, he told Democrats, who have a majority in IL and draw the districts there.