A New Era of Bipartisanship?

[babylonsister]

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/11/a_new_era_of_bipartisanship.html

A New Era of Bipartisanship?
By Richard Reeves

LOS ANGELES -- Early in this year's primary election season I did a study on bipartisanship for the Center on Communication Leadership of the University of Southern California. I'm afraid I was not very optimistic that Republicans and Democrats would be able to get together on much of anything after the Clinton and Bush years of what some call "hyperpartisanship."

Now I'm not so sure.

I concluded then that: "My own feeling is that only a strong president with a mandate for governing through a universal crisis -- a necessary war or devastating climate change -- can bring any bipartisanship or, better, nonpartisanship to Washington."

There is no doubt that we do now have that "universal crisis," though it is economic rather that climatological or military. The question then is whether President-elect Barack Obama will prove to be a strong enough leader to embrace and encourage bipartisanship. So far, I would say cautiously, that maybe he is, as his opponent jibed in debate, "That one."

The two obvious pieces of evidence that that might be true are his decision to keep Robert Gates as secretary of Defense and, perhaps more important, his "order" to congressional Democrats to allow Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut to retain his standing and seniority -- even after Lieberman campaigned for his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain.

You don't see that every day.

snip//

My favorite quote while I was wandering around Washington asking about bipartisanship was from Robert Merry, who covered Congress and the White House for The Wall Street Journal before becoming editor and then president of Congressional Quarterly: "Bipartisanship in Washington is a cyclical thing, it comes and goes in an organic way. It changes when people get fed up with the status quo."

Well, we've won half that battle, the negative half. People are fed up. Now we will see if their elected leaders are ready for some organic change in the status quo.

[Captain Hilts]

1. It is stunning how thoroughly GWB has alienated Republicans. nt