Obama & the R's - Why does he even try to work with 'The Party of No' ?

Interesting article in Rolling Stone.  Here's what I found most intriguing:

"Going over to the R caucus to meet...and on the way over...they released a statement saying...
"We're going to all vote 'No' as a caucus." And this was before we'd even had the conversation."

Why does Obama even try to work with these guys?  Arrogant, mindless jerks.

"I know a lot of these guys who started hedge funds. They are making large profits, taking home large incomes, but because of a rule called "carried interest," they are paying lower tax rates than their secretaries, or the janitor that cleans up the building. Or folks who are out there as police officers and teachers and small-business people. So all we've said is that it makes sense for them to pay taxes on it like on ordinary income"

Maybe it has something to do with all the corporate donations flooding into the R's campaign war chests.

"But by every index we know of, there seems to be no part of the Afghanistan strategy that is working. The Taliban control more of the country than ever. The Karzai regime is incredibly corrupt and has lost the trust of its own people."

Ya, but we should have tackled Afghanistan first.  That's were the attack on 9-11 came from.  Not Iraq.

"James Hansen, the NASA scientist who is perhaps the most respected authority on global warming, says that climate change is the predominant moral issue of the 21st century, comparable to slavery faced by Lincoln and the response to Nazism faced by Churchill."

So the end of our present way of life may be kind of important after all?