The Perils of Bi-Partisanship

[kentuck]

A Letter to the Editor.
==================


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/opinion/l17gregg.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

To the Editor:

Gregg Ends Bid for Commerce Job (February 13, 2009)

Re “2nd Pick to Run Commerce Dept. Withdraws Bid” (front page, Feb. 13):

The withdrawal of Senator Judd Gregg from consideration for the post of commerce secretary, coming on the heels of the Republican Party’s overwhelming and disciplined rejection of the stimulus package, should serve as a wake-up call for President Obama’s strategy of bipartisanship. It should now be clear that, for all its facile appeal, bipartisanship is a mistake for at least three reasons.

First, it assumes a willing partner, and the Republicans have made it clear that their goal is to rapidly derail this presidency rather than help build a new spirit of bipartisanship.

Second, it assumes that the solutions to the nation’s ills lie somewhere in the middle of the political spectrum — between the two parties — whereas the reality is that our most pressing problems, from providing universal health care and sensible economic regulation, to environmental protection and labor law reform, all require more radical solutions, not weak compromises.

Third, bipartisanship of this kind undermines democracy because it thwarts the will of the people. Republican ideas and political practices were decisively rejected at the polls last November; they should not reappear through the back door.

I voted for Barack Obama and his policy agenda. I thought we won.

Let’s see it enacted. Chris Howell

Oberlin, Ohio, Feb. 13, 2009

[T Wolf]

1. Exactly! I only hope that the President and Congress learn this lesson before they give

away everything we (thought we) voted for.