Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Bi-Partisanship with Moderates

Mark Halperin of Time, a guy who projects an inhuman creepiness while on camera, believes Obama should strain at the bit to get Republican support on finance reform, immigration reform, and overhauling No Child Left Behind.

But that doesn't work.

The Republican leadership has made it clear that they are not going to cooperate. Because Obama wanted bi-partisanship, Boehner and McConnell concluded that bi-partisanship means "Obama wins." They'll reject everything Obama proposes because they view compromise as to Obama's advantage.

What Obama and the Congressional leadership need to do is get better at negotiating with moderate and conservative Democrats while taking heavy flak from the right. Pelosi got her act together after Scott Brown was elected in Massachusetts. But the Dems have to keep improving in their efforts to deal with their own moderates if they want continued success.

That might be a good way to pick off some Republican votes as well.

2 comments:

James said...

I agree, no way the Republican leadership even considers working with the Democrats on anything,for the cynical reason that you point out: working together means Obama wins.

Glad to see you are back blogging.

JHW

Ric Caric said...

Hey James. So, have you finished and turned in your papers?