From Jay Cost: "Obama holds a partisan view of bipartisanship"
Since he was inaugurated, I have been critical of President Obama's failure to live up to his pledge of bipartisanship. But maybe he has lived up to it, at least on his own terms.
After all, the line of reasoning in this essay suggests a partisan view of bipartisanship, which would go something like this:
We're the ones who are (mostly) public-spirited and rational; they're the ones who are (mostly) self-interested and using propaganda. Thus, bipartisanship will come when they mend their ways.
In so doing, they will start to agree with us. While there may be some lingering divisions, many will disappear. After all, if both sides are motivated by the public interest and making recourse only to rational argument - how much divergence can there possibly be?
This could reconcile Obama's complaints about what he saw as mere gestures from the previous administration with his belief that congressional Republicans should have been happy with the gestures he made to them. This partisan view of bipartisanship doesn't suggest a meeting at the halfway point. The meeting point depends on which party is more virtuous and more reasonable. If the President thinks he has the market cornered on both assets, then the idea that Bush should have given more is quite compatible with the thought that he has given enough.
What to make of this view of the political world? For starters, I do not think it is very peculiar or unique. Most strong partisans, I think, have a partisan view of the public discourse. Plenty of members of Congress do, too. That goes for the whole of American history. So, I don't think there is anything wrong with a President who thinks the other side is full of you-know-what.
What's peculiar and unique is the President's consistent pretensions toward bipartisanship. I'm not sure what to make of the fact that he consistently joins a partisan attack with an appeal to bipartisanship. I do think the political benefits of this are questionable. If this is the President's view of the public discourse - he should not hold his breath for Republican cooperation. It will not be forthcoming. To keep suggesting that it might be forthcoming puts him in danger of being held responsible for its absence.
After all, Republicans do not hold a Democratic view of the public discourse. Most of the congressional caucus probably holds the Republican view. Some - like Susan Collins, Judd Gregg, Lindsay Graham, and Olympia Snowe - have less partisan views and would be willing to meet President Obama halfway. But is Obama prepared to meet them there? His remarks to House Republicans suggest that the answer - despite all his pretensions - is actually no.
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