It takes two to tango
OLD habits die hard. The Republicans have had so much success with the Karl Rovian tactics of attacking an opponent's strength, such as swift-boating John Kerry's war records, that they are attempting to do exactly the same to President Barack Obama.
Bipartisanship is Obama's strength. Therefore, the Republicans are determined not to let Obama be bipartisan! President Obama had offered Republican Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire the very important cabinet post of commerce secretary, which he initially accepted. Under heavy pressure from his Republican colleagues, Gregg withdrew his name from consideration last week.
Although Obama had wined and dined Republican congressmen and senators and met with them repeatedly, not a single Republican congressman voted for the $787 billion stimulus bill that President Obama enacted into law on February 17. Only three Republican senators -- Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, Olympia Snow and Susan Collins of Maine -- voted for the bill. That had more to do with political expediency than conviction. The three senators represent states that are increasingly Democratic.
The official reason for the Republican opposition to the stimulus bill is that it involves "generational theft" (John McCain) and wasteful spending. Funny, these are the same Republicans who gave George W. Bush everything he wanted so that he could run the country into the ground. For the Republican legislators to pretend that they are now all fiscal responsibility is a hard sell.
The real reason is the Republican hope that the stimulus bill will fail to stimulate the economy, so that they can say that it was a Democratic bill passed without Republican support; therefore Democrats are to blame for the failure and the Republicans should be elected to correct it.
Of course, this may be wishful thinking. Most Americans support the stimulus bill; President Obama's approval rating is 70%; 48% of Americans favour the congressional Democrats, compared to 32% who support the congressional Republicans. With their opposition to a popular president and a popular bill, the Republicans may be committing political suicide.
Bipartisanship requires a willing partner. The Republican Party is anything but. Their aim is not only to deny Obama bipartisanship, but also to derail his presidency from the outset, so that a successful Obama presidency is impossible.
Bipartisan is a nice sounding word that does not accomplish much politically. It entails compromise; meeting the other party half way. The Republicans and the Democrats have diametrically opposite views on the burning issues of the day, such as how to revive the economy, deregulation, environmental protection and healthcare. Bipartisanship would mean compromising with the Republican policies that has devastated the country over the last eight years.
Americans rejected the Republicans and their policies decisively last November. It will be a mistake if President Obama allows the failed policies of the Republicans to reappear in compromised bills in the guise of bipartisanship.
For most Americans bipartisanship means a more civil discourse between the political parties -- not a hybrid legislation that contains the good and the bad. Regardless of what the Republicans may attempt to do to discredit him, Americans have concluded that President Obama is "bipartisan." Not only that, Americans firmly believe that President Obama is post-partisan and instinctively civil.
If the Republicans do not wake up to that reality and continue to be obstructionists, they will learn their lesson through another electoral catastrophe.
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