Enough of Bipartisanship

OK Barack; nice try. You did what you could. It's already time to chuck this bipartisanship kick and get on with doing what the country needs done. Yes, it is true the country wants a more civil tone in politics. People really are sick of the name-calling and smear tactics. Your campaign victory helped demonstrate that, as you stuck to the issues and won while your opponents called you a terrorist, communist, socialist, traitor and more.

That is all to the good. But do not make the mistake of confusing style with substance. For God's sake yes, the American people are ready for principle and civility in public discourse. They are fed up with paranoid rantings. They want to hear rational discussion between politicians and between the two parties. But that does not mean they want to be governed any longer by quack Republican ideology that doesn't work. As you say yourself, "We cannot go back to the failed policies of the past eight years. That's what the election in November was all about."

You bet it was. According to Gallup, barely 24% of the American people now identify themselves as Republicans. The people favored your stimulus approach over the Republicans' by 26%. In the past two election cycles not one Democratic House or Senate seat has been won by a Republican, even in cases where the incumbent was not running. In contrast, Democrats have picked up 52 Republican seats in the House and 14 in the Senate. So where, exactly, do you see a groundswell of public sentiment to water down your proposals with theirs? The American people can't get rid of them fast enough.

You went to their caucuses. Before you had even set foot in them their leaders were publicly calling for all their members to vote no. You invited them to the White House. You made changes on the spot for them. You directed your congressional allies to accept fifteen of their amendments. In the Senate negotiations you agreed to include the Alternative Minimum Tax fix in the plan, cutting $70 billion from the House package to accommodate it, even though the GAO said it would have no stimulative effect. You allowed them to cut $40 billon from aid to the states and $16 billion from education construction. Surely you do not believe the stimulative effect is stronger for having made these compromises.

In return you got no Republican votes in the House, and the three Northeastern Republican Senators who would probably have voted for it anyway. After the way they have destroyed the budget and national economy, why not do what is best and if they want to stop it then make them actually bring in the cots and filibuster the old fashioned way. Make them hold the floor and explain why they stand in the way of a national recovery bill in the midst of the worst crash since the Great Depression. In no time you'd have 300 seats in the House and 70 in the Senate.

The GOP is not going to change. They despise what you stand for. They are still spouting Hooverism in 2009. They will take as many concessions as you will give but they still will not support you. You are like a man who wants to give water to thirsty people. They believe in giving dirt. For most of the past thirty years they have been following this prescription and the nation is choking to death. Their theory is bunk and yours is right. You accomplish nothing by compromising, mixing their dirt in with your water and ladling out mud. It earns you none of their gratitude. They can't stand to see their dirt diluted in this way.

Yes, by all means keep inviting them over. Refer to them respectfully in public and private. When they come up with good ideas go ahead and include them in your initiatives and give them credit when it is due. But you can stop letting them change things just for the sake of letting them have their way on something, in the mistaken notion it will make them more tractable on something else. They are incredibly set in their views and will not be moved on policy.

So give it up. Enough of bipartisanship; there is no bipartisanship with this crew. Just vote in what you need done. You and your party were decisively elected for a reason; the American people neither believe in nor want Republican solutions. They have had enough of them, thank you.