Gingrich: Obama Learning He Can't Hide Behind Harry Reid
Greg Richter
Now that Republicans control the Senate, President Barack Obama is figuring out he has to work with the GOP and can't hide behind now-Minority Leader Harry Reid, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said.
"I think he’s learning," Gingrich said in an interview aired Sunday on "The Cats Roundtable" on AM 970 in New York.
In the past few weeks, Obama has been reaching out to GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell "now that the Republicans have the Senate, and he has no place to hide, and he doesn’t have Harry Reid, the Senate Democratic leader, to hide behind," Gingrich told host John Catsimatidis.
Republicans had long complained that Reid, then majority leader, kept bills from even coming to the floor, or, when they did, wouldn't allow amendments.
But now, "You’re seeing a whole range of things happen that you and I would not have expected," Gingrich said. "And maybe to some extent, the president is learning the reality of what he’s dealing with."
By contrast, Gingrich pointed out how he and then-President Bill Clinton worked across party lines to get a balanced budget and other needed legislation.
"Both of us recognized that the country was more important than we were," he said. "We had an obligation to absolutely find a way to work for the country."