Returning to his roots, Obama denounces 'schoolyard taunts' in politics

Saying that America is in a moment when democracy itself seems stuck, President Obama on Wednesday proposed a series of changes in the nation's politics to encourage a more productive, bipartisan government.

In a speech to the Illinois General Assembly punctuated by the same kind of partisan applause that characterized his State of the Union addresses, Obama often implored members of both parties to applaud and sit down together. And in a statement that will inevitably be read as a rebuke of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Obama denounced the "schoolyard taunts" that often characterize the political debate.

"So when I hear voices in either party boast of their refusal to compromise as an accomplishment in and of itself, I'm not impressed," Obama told the statehouse chamber.

Nine years to the day after he launched his campaign for president on the steps of the Old State Capitol Building, President Obama returned to Springfield, Ill. Wednesday for a speech that looked back at the Obama era while also calling for bipartisanship as the next era begins.

Though often short on specifics, Obama proposed four reforms to help cure the division in American politics:

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► Reduce the influence of money in politics. Obama noted that 150 families have spent as much on the presidential race as the rest of Americans combined. "I'm not saying the wealthy shouldn't have a voice," he said. "I'm just saying they shouldn't be able to drown out everybody else's."

► Change the way congressional districts are drawn to prevent either side from seeking advantage through "gerrymandering" districts that look like "earmuffs or spaghetti." With fewer districts competitive between Republicans and Democrats, most members worry more about a challenge from within their own party. "Our debates move away from the middle, where most Americans are, to the far ends of the spectrum," Obama said.

► Help more Americans to vote through same-day registration and early voting. "If 99% of us voted, it wouldn't matter how much the 1% spends on our elections," he said.

► Insist on civility from politicians and fellow citizens. "I think that's something that all of us as Americans have to insist from each other," he said. "We should insist on a higher form of political discourse."

Obama noted that one side of the statehouse chamber often stood and applauded the proposals they thought would benefit them — and sat down for proposals that wouldn't.

"Let's be very clear here, nobody's got clean hands on this thing," he told Democrats, who have a majority in Illinois and draw the districts there.

To Republicans who sat quietly as he spoke about voter registration, Obama admonished. "This shouldn’t be controversial, guys. You liked the redistricting thing, but not changing the way people vote? I should get some applause on that, too."

In Washington, Republicans said Obama was just as much to blame for the nation's divided politics.

"We hear this a lot from the president. He tries to shift blame to the process, absolve himself of any participation in the bitterness in our politics. And he talks about the world as he wishes it would be, not as it actually is," said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. "The problem isn't politics. The problem is the president's ideas. The problem is the bitter polarization that comes from these ideas."

Obama chose a rare presidential address to a state legislature to expand on a central theme of his State of the Union address last month: Building a "better politics." The time and place were no coincidence: The speech came nine years to the day after he launched his campaign for president on the steps of the Old State Capitol Building just a few blocks away.

Leading off with stories of his nearly eight years as a state senator, Obama said it was in Springfield that he learned how to "fight like hell on one issue and then shake hands on the next."

Adding to the memory lane feel, Obama stopped at an old Springfield haunt, the Feed Store, to mingle with patrons and order a bowl of barley soup before his speech.