President Obama Meets with Lawmakers in Springfield

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

The ongoing budget impasse between Democrats and Republicans in IL was front of mind for many lawmakers Wednesday as they listened to President Barack Obama’s address to the General Assembly about building a “better politics”.

Nine years ago today, Mr. Obama announced his first campaign for president at the Old State Capitol in Springfield.

In this February 5, 2016, photo, President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room in Washington.

“So often these debates, particularly in Washington but increasingly in state legislatures, become abstractions”, he said, adding that voters have become turned off of a politics that “encourages the kind of ideological fealty that rejects any form of compromise as weakness”. Many in the GOP caucus saw Obama as someone on the rise and tried to get in his way, Jacobs said. He called on IL lawmakers to approve pending legislation that would make voter registration automatic when people get their drivers’ licenses.

“If I listened to some of these conservative pundits, I wouldn’t have voted for me either”, Obama said.

“I wouldn’t expect that this is going to change the nature of IL politics overnight”, he said.

He also sounded upon themes first spoken during his final State of the Union Address of too much acrimony and cynicism in American politics, while avoiding the pressing issues in Springfield like the budget crisis.

Obama also called for “rethinking” how Congressional districts are drawn, so they’re not gerrymandered to look like “ear muffs or spaghetti”, to favor one party.

IL is in its eighth month without a budget, and lawmakers hope the speech will help them find middle ground.

In many ways, though, Obama’s call to reclaim the meaning of citizenship and restore a sense of common goal is harder than ever to achieve.

Obama did mention dark money in his speech, saying that it “drowns out ordinary voices”.

He said his message was meant for both parties, and at times playfully admonished the Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the chamber for applauding his comments only when they served their own goals.

Obama returned to a statehouse that has weathered its share of turmoil since he left it behind in 2004. The two sides have yet to approve a budget more than eight months into the fiscal year, prompting massive cuts to higher education and social service programs.

Obama continued his Springfield nostalgia tour with another address this afternoon, this time to a packed house of volunteers and supporters at the Hoagland Arts Center, where banners bearing his famous campaign slogan “Yes!”

Obama’s speech in IL sounded a hopeful note.

“Mr. Obama was eager to work on legislation”, said Kirk Dillard, then a Republican state senator from Hinsdale and now chairman of the Regional Transit Authority in the Chicago area, “so he had to cooperate with Republicans”.

At various points in his speech, Obama noted that while Democrats would stand and applaud, Republican stayed largely in their seats – a symbol of the political divide in Washington.