Despite Barack Obama’s ability to win over independents and Republicans during the 2008 election, his efforts to create a less polarized political culture have proven futile. Paul Krugman, who witnessed the vicious partisanship aimed at Bill Clinton during the 1990s, was one of the first to recognize that no amount of Obama’s rhetoric, star power, or even common sense would compel Republicans to take the nation’s problems seriously. He saw that today’s GOP is wedded to a scorched earth strategy in which ideology trumps all.
He was right.
I thought, given Obama’s huge mandate, the Republicans would give him at least a six-month honeymoon period; they didn’t give him six minutes. On Inauguration Day the rightwing noise machine went into full gear, claiming that Obama wasn’t a citizen and that he was bent on marching America towards socialism. The same people who didn’t make a sound when Bush turned a trillion dollar surplus into a five trillion dollar deficit suddenly became concerned about government debt.
Who cares that the worst thing to do during a recession is to reduce government spending? Who cares that Obama’s healthcare reform will actually reduce the deficit and begin to control long term healthcare costs? In the fantasy world of today’s Republicans, white is black and up is down. Facts have no place, only death panels and forced abortions.
It is clear that one of the two major parties has given up any pretense at seriousness; it’s clear that we face a situation in which only more and better Democrats can get the job done.
We don’t have six months to waste trying to get Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins to vote for a bill they will ultimately find some lame excuse to oppose. We don’t have time to negotiate with people who deny the existence of global warming. And we certainly shouldn’t cut a deal with a Republican Party that thinks Wall Street and the financial system don’t need more regulation.
Obama brought into office the hope of a “post-partisan” America, but that dream has been dashed. Reality-based Republicans may one day regain control of their party from the know-nothings and fanatics, but that is a long way off at best.
While the spirit of cooperation has been integral to Obama’s message and brand, it would be best for him now to admit that he made a mistake—to admit that at this juncture bipartisanship is simply not possible. It would show the country that he’s more interested in outcomes than process, that his only priority is what’s best for the American people. He should distill his message to specific policy principles and values, and make clear that he will work with anyone who shares them. If this happens to be only Democrats, so be it.
Let’s make the next decade a true battle of ideas and values, pitting those of reason, fairness, and justice against those of deceit, religious zealotry, and cronyism. I am confident Americans will choose the former.
It will be easier for them to do so if we jettison the calls for bipartisanship, and make the distinctions between the parties as sharp as night and day—as sharp in fact as they really are.
P.S. It seems as if the Obama Administration is finally starting to make just the shift described above.
Jason Scorse