yes, he didObama made a good SHOW of reaching out. There wasn't any sincerity in it.
Bush, idiotically WAS inclusive, so much so that he entered into a co-dependency relationship with Congress -- a wink-and nod venture whereby they would give him what he wanted, and he would look the other way on their mountains of pork. This wasn't just the Dems in Congress either, this was everyone. It's one reason why Congress' approval rating was abysmal, even far lower than Dubya's was.
It's also the reason Dems in Congress kept renewing the tax cuts, the patriot act, and never gave him much noise on war spending. They liked the gravy train. And they knew they could demagogue these items and the deficit later, what a great set of political footballs. "Blame Booooosh" is the mantra which will carry The Obama through his first term, and get him re-elected for a second.
Bush chose to fight outside enemies, forgetting that he had major enemies on the inside. But he didn't care about that, what people think of him, or what they would say. You gotta admire the thick skin he has.
But he wasn't much of a chess player.
Bush didn't need to reach out to any opposition - there was none. Not just for the last decade, but for the last 3 decades, all of the politicians on both sides of the aisle were working for the same wealthy special interests.
The only thing separating the republicans from the democrats since Carter has been their choice in the fears they hyped in order to get votes. Policy has been dictated by the money holding the leashes of both parties.
Bush's most formidable enemy was the people from whom he was transferring wealth to his buddies at Halliburton, et al. That is why the republicans lost.
-Joe
when he came into office the GOP had a slim majority in the House, and the Dems had it in the senate
Bush bent over backwards to the dems and he let several of them write MAJOR pieces of legislation that he put his full weight behind and siogned
you have a very POOR memory if you keep repeating these lies you are telling
Dude, I'm saying it was the fault of the purse strings behind both parties. It didn't matter which party was in 'control', at least not to the money, it owns both. Bush didn't have to bend over backwards to anybody. He was just another tool in the box of the special interests to direct rivers of cash-flow their direction for as long as possible.
-Joe