Bipartisanship

Bipartisanship is a term we have heard a lot lately. It basically means both political parties working together to come up with the best solution. Obama has been talking about how he wants bipartisan support for the $787 billion economic spending bill. What he has really meant is that he wants Republicans on board without considering their concerns about out of control spending in this hideous bill. It is not a bipartisan bill, it is a Democrat spending bill (the Democrats have been dreaming about a bill like this for years now but have not been able to pass it because of a Republican controlled White House or Congress), but Obama does not care about that, he just wants Republicans to say they support it. Oh, sure, he met with them, but he did not listen to their concerns, he just wanted to use his media buddies to shame them into voting for it. I am glad he did not get bipartisan support in the House, because the Republicans were shut out of the process, why should they support it?

It was a little different in the Senate, where he needed the support of a couple of Republicans to avoid a filibuster, so he found three liberals with an "r" next to their name and they worked hard to trim a few billion dollars out of the bill (Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, and the always entertaining Arlen Specter). Now, he can say it is bipartisan without getting the support of any Republicans besides those three, and the media will happily report it. Never mind that not a single House Republican voted for it. Never mind that a majority of people did not want it to pass in its current form. Never mind that this is not what is best for the country. None of that is important. What is important is that this Democrat spending gets rammed down our throats, with the help of a few Republicans, whether we like it or not, whether it is good for the economy or not (it is not).

Obama really just wants to pay lip service to bipartisanship, that way, he can say he worked with Republicans when he really did not. Now, he can say he tried to be bipartisan, but it seems to me, what he really tried to do is force them to support this bill without making any real changes (yeah, they cut a little bit out of it, but the bill is still ridiculously laden down with useless spending). To Democrats, bipartisanship is when the Republicans support their agenda, not when both parties are working together.

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