by Benn Ray
Recently, I was talking to a liberal friend who commented that he was looking forward to a new era of bipartisanship in our government so that we can get stuff done.
I was confused. Bipartisanship? What the hell does that even mean?
For liberals to be calling for bipartisanship is the same as offering someone you are negotiating with all the concessions you are willing to make before you even sit down at the table. It just doesn't make sense. Plus, now is not the time of bipartisanship, the past 8 years should have been a time of bipartisanship and weren't. Now's the time for sweeping liberal reform to fix the past 8 years of unchecked Republican rule.
Plus, just take a look at how congressional Republicans have been behaving. They are not interested in bipartisanship, they are interested in obstructionism.
On Face The Nation this week, Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman puts an end to the bogus notion of bipartisanship.
"He’s [..] not going to get bipartisan consensus. He may be able to get some moderate Republicans votes. He may be able to get the moderate Republicans in the Senate – both of them -- to go…vote with the Democrats. The point is, you look at what John Boehner is doing in the House right now, the House Republican Leader. He’s dead set against doing anything constructive right now. He’s actually soliciting on his website, saying if there are any credentialed economists who are willing to you know, say negative things about stimulus plans, please contact me. So no, it’s not going to be bipartisan, in the sense that leaders of both parties are going to get together. Reaching out across the aisle, trying to find some sensible people on the Republican side is not the same thing."
Source.