For months, we have heard many Republicans tell us one reason they judge President Obama's first term in office as a failure is that he did virtually nothing his first two years despite having a Democratic majority in both Houses of Congress to work with: he could have gotten any bill he wanted passed into law, they claim. I finally took the time to look into this claim, and, surprise, this claim, like so many others, is shot full of holes, to the point of being an outright lie.
I'm not going to repeat the explanation, because I found an excellent one that I couldn't improve on: The Myth of the Filibuster I highly recommend this article, with one caveat: it might make you sick to see how twisted the Republicans have had to go perpetuate this lie.
Next question, has there been any significant increase in the use of the filibuster by the minority party since President Obama took office? The answer is below, in an excellent chart, which can be seen in this link: History of the Filibuster
For me, as always, one doesn't have to run from the facts if truth if true progress is the goal. In fact, true progress and success cannot be had without using the truth. Of course there is almost always room for interpretation. That must be based, however, on real facts, and not those manipulated to one degree or another to support one's pre-set notions.
By the way, I have to correct something I've repeated several times, that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell stated the Republican's number one goal was to make sure President Obama was a one-term president. He did say this, but not at the beginning of Obama's first time, as I believed, but on the eve of the midterm elections, half way through Obama's first term Some people, too, claim Senator McConnell was quoted out of context. I've read the interview answers around the main one, and I don't see that it changes the intent of his comments, but you might, so here is a good place to read for yourself: Senator Mitch McConnell's famous quote
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