Obama's first lesson: Bipartisanship is over-rated

In the wake of the passage of the president's stimulus package, Barack Obama may be contemplating the usefulness of whether to continue to frame every goal around the theme of "both parties working together."

As we all know, his stimulus bill got no Republican votes in the House and very, very few in the Senate. This was the reality after all the president's talk on the campaign trail and since his inauguration about "working together," "both parties solving problems for the American people," etc., etc.

It's noble rhetoric, and it certainly does have an understandable appeal for a lot of voters. But I've never been quite carried away with it. Our political system is based on a competition between two major parties. Democrats (mostly liberal) and Republicans (mostly conservative) put their ideas forward and the voters decide which program they want. In the 1980s, the GOP under Ronald Reagan held sway. More recently, Republican ideas have become discredited (especially under the awful tenure of the regrettable George W. Bush) and Democrats now hold both houses of Congress and the White House.

As a partisan liberal Democrat, I will never make any apology for wanting to defeat conservative Republicans. I firmly believe that my ideals and the views of those who also hold them are superior to the opposition. I'll be glad to "work with them" on the rare occasions where we truly do agree. Otherwise, I want my viewpoint to win and theirs to lose. Isnt' that the way politics is supposed to work?

After a while, all this stuff about "both parties working together" almost begins to sound like an appeal for a one-party state. If we all wind up sitting around the same campfire singing the same song, uh....that would be North Korea, wouldn't it? I prefer the partisan, competitive politics of the United States.

Here in Virginia, we're used to the "bipartisan" rhetoric of new Sen. Mark Warner. He's made a career of talking about that. Now, I love Mark Warner as much as any Virginia Democrat. But just once I'd love to hear him say...."You know what? I just love to kick Republican ass!!"

Obama and the Democrats in Congress did exactly that in passing the stimulus program. It came down to simply having the numbers that - thanks to the decisions of voters - Democrats have and Republicans don't.

As many commentators have suggested, it's possible that President Obama will indeed secure more Republican support for future initiatives. But that certainly didn't happen this time. And he won, anyway.

It will be interesting to see if he makes any changes to his approach in the future.