--- title: Barack Obama Criticizes the Filibuster As Democrats Start Using It description: President Obama criticized the filibuster for causing gridlock and polarization, just as Democrats in the Senate have begun using it. canonical: https://time.com/3701079/obama-filibuster/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-09T16:35:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T04:15:47.498Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Criticizes the Filibuster, Just as Democrats Start Using It og:description: He's changed his mind since he was a senator og:url: https://time.com/3701079/obama-filibuster/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta95ab57187ec708f/69877e4135ba6f0291c06f6a/obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: President Obama speaks on budget og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Criticizes the Filibuster, Just as Democrats Start Using It twitter:description: He's changed his mind since he was a senator twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta95ab57187ec708f/69877e4135ba6f0291c06f6a/obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Criticizes the Filibuster, Just as Democrats Start Using It > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Feb 9, 2015 4:35 PM UTC  President Barack Obama speaks during a press conference at the Department of Homeland Security in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 2, 2015. President Barack Obama speaks during a press conference at the Department of Homeland Security in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 2, 2015. Samuel Corum—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Feb 9, 2015 4:35 PM UTC President Barack Obama argued in a new interview that the Senate should all-but eliminate the use of the filibuster, just as Democrats in the upper chamber have begun to make use of it. In [an interview with the online policy site _Vox_](http://www.vox.com/a/barack-obama-interview-vox-conversation/obama-domestic-policy-transcript), Obama argued that the now-routine requirement that a measure get 60 votes to pass the Senate is causing legislative gridlock and leading to polarization. “Probably the one thing that we could change without a constitutional amendment that would make a difference here would be the elimination of the routine use of the filibuster in the Senate,” he said. “Because I think that does, in an era in which the parties are more polarized, it almost ensures greater gridlock and less clarity in terms of the positions of the parties.” The interview was published just one week after Democrats [used the filibuster](http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/senate-democrats-filibuster-114888.html) to block a bill that would attempt to undo Obama’s recent executive actions on immigration. The bill failed on a 51-48 vote, gathering a simple majority but falling far short of the 60-vote threshold. (Of course, even if the bill had gotten through Congress, Obama would have vetoed it.) Obama couched his criticism of the filibuster in sweeping constitutional terms. “There’s nothing in the Constitution that requires it,” he said. “The framers were pretty good about designing a House, a Senate, two years versus six-year terms, every state getting two senators. There were a whole bunch of things in there to assure that a majority didn’t just run rampant.” The President has flip-flopped not just on the filibuster but on how it relates to gridlock. As a senator in 2005, Obama argued that [changing the Senate rules](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/senate-nuclear-filibuster-rules/story?id=20964700) to reduce the use of the filibuster would only lead to more “bitterness and gridlock.” But as President he [supported a move](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/senate-poised-to-limit-filibusters-in-party-line-vote-that-would-alter-centuries-of-precedent/2013/11/21/d065cfe8-52b6-11e3-9fe0-fd2ca728e67c%5Fstory.html) by then-Majority Leader Harry Reid to eliminate the filibuster on most nominations, which allowed him to get key judges and officials confirmed while his party still controlled the Senate. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3701079/obama-filibuster/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3701079/obama-filibuster/"},"headline":"Obama Criticizes the Filibuster, Just as Democrats Start Using It","datePublished":"2015-02-09T16:35:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:15:47.498Z","description":"President Obama criticized the filibuster for causing gridlock and polarization, just as Democrats in the Senate have begun using it.","url":"https://time.com/3701079/obama-filibuster/","keywords":["White House","Congress"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta95ab57187ec708f/69877e4135ba6f0291c06f6a/obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta95ab57187ec708f/69877e4135ba6f0291c06f6a/obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama speaks on budget","caption":"President Obama speaks on budget","creditText":"Samuel Corum—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3701079/obama-filibuster/","name":"Obama Criticizes the Filibuster, Just as Democrats Start Using It"}}]}] ```