President Barack Obama argued in defense of the filibuster on the Senate floor in 2005 despite now referring to the Senate tactic as a “Jim Crow relic” in a comment that President Joe Biden echoed on Thursday.
“If the majority chooses to end the filibuster, if they choose to change the rules and put an end to Democratic debate, then the fighting and the bitterness and the gridlock will only get worse,” then-Sen. Obama stated in 2005, a clip of which has gone viral on social media this week.
MANCHIN OPEN TO MAKING FILIBUSTER MORE ‘PAINFUL,’ REITERATING SUPPORT FOR THE PROCESS
Obama argued that ending the filibuster would “change the rules in the middle of the game so that they can make all the decisions while the other party is told to sit down and keep quiet.”
Sen. Barack Obama in 2005 vigorously defending the filibuster, which he now decries as a “Jim Crow relic:” pic.twitter.com/ha6OrW2vzK
— Christian Schneider (@Schneider_CM) March 25, 2021
Fifteen years later, in July of 2020, Obama spoke at the funeral of civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis and labeled the filibuster as a Jim Crow relic that should be eliminated.
“And if all this takes eliminating the filibuster, another Jim Crow relic, in order to secure the God-given rights of every American, then that’s what we should do,” Obama said.
Biden agreed with Obama’s current stance on the filibuster Thursday in his first solo press conference since taking office.
“Yes,” Biden stated when asked by a reporter if he agreed that the filibuster is a Jim Crow relic.
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“Successful electoral politics is the art of the possible,” he added. “Let’s figure out how to get this done and significantly change the abuse of the filibuster rule.”
Many Democrats have voiced support for ending the filibuster in order to advance Biden’s agenda through the 50-50 split in the Senate. The chamber’s minority leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell, warned of a “scorched-earth” response from the GOP if Democrats go that route.
