THE USES AND LIMITS OF BI-PARTISANSHIP

Monday, February 23, 2009

(Arlington County Democratic Committee)

Report from the Chairman

Peter Rousselot

After the final passage of President Obama's stimulus bill (with no Republican votes in the House and only three Republican votes in the Senate), there have been waves of second-guessing regarding the Obama administration's strategy regarding the bill. The logic of some Obama critics goes like this: because Obama didn't get a single Republican vote in the House, and only got three Republican votes in the Senate, that "proves" that his efforts to reach across the aisle were a waste of time. Now that we "know" that the Republicans aren’t going to be co-operative, Obama should scrap any further efforts to reach out to them, and instead should use his large Democratic Congressional majorities to pass legislation that more closely reflects the values on which he campaigned.

From the opposite direction, the Republican Congressional leadership argues that Obama's failure to adopt some of the suggestions they offered (even though many were adopted) fairly can be cited as evidence of excessive partisanship. At least on the stimulus bill, the Republicans are "betting the farm" that this stimulus legislation will not succeed, and that they can profit from this in 2010 and 2012.

What lessons should we learn from all of this? National public opinion surveys repeatedly have shown that substantial percentages of voters, particularly swing voters, reward what they perceive as bi-partisanship. The same surveys show that they punish what they perceive as excessive partisanship. These results have been identified in enough different public opinion surveys so that no one should dismiss them as a fluke. More current national opinion surveys also show that President Obama maintains enormous popularity in the country (with a substantial portion of this popularity attributable to his support from these very same swing voters), while the popularity of Congressional Republicans (and Democrats) remains low.

To retain the public support he needs to drive his progressive agenda through Congress, President Obama should make clear that the GOP bears a heavy burden to offer something new and positive—in light of the mess the Bush administration left behind. Obama should be on the alert for any GOP ideas that truly are new and positive, adopt such ideas if he finds any, and point to their adoption as evidence of his bi-partisanship. If the Republicans persist in advancing the same old bankrupt ideas, then Obama should continue to reject those ideas, but should very publicly continue to reach out to the GOP. Obama should be up front with the American people that this is exactly what he is going to do, but should be clear that he absolutely is NOT "going to meet the Republicans half way" regarding any of their ideas or policies that are proven failures.

How did we get into this partisan morass in the first place? History teaches that partisanship has been the rule rather than the exception in our national government, but there are some recent developments that have made our partisanship much more extreme. These include the change in Washington's political culture brought on by Newt Gingrich’s "take no prisoners" approach to governing during his heyday in the mid-nineteen-nineties; the "permanent" campaigning brought on by the huge escalation in the cost of campaigns that causes many members of Congress to spend only three to four days a week in Washington (while campaigning back in their districts the rest of the time), and the drive for more and more ideological purity, particularly in the Republican party, which has made that party smaller and smaller and more and more the home of the radical right.

Republican intransigence on the stimulus bill has opened a great opportunity for the Democratic Party. We Democrats should relentlessly continue to stress that these are the same people who got us into the mess we’re in, and that their ideas and policies richly deserve the suspicion and hostility of the American people. We’ve got the "big mo", and we need to keep it.

The Republicans who control the Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) fit right into the mold of their national brethren: bitterly partisan and narrow-minded. One crucial difference, however, is that the Virginia Republicans control one house of our legislature--the House of Delegates, and therefore they truly are in a position completely to block needed legislation such as legislation to improve Virginia’s transportation infrastructure. That's why one of our top priorities as Democrats this year must be to capture a Democratic majority in the Virginia House of Delegates where all 100 seats are up for election.

In the coming months, we'll be providing news and suggestions for ways in which Arlington Democrats will be able to join in this critical goal of taking control of the Virginia House of Delegates.

PETER ROUSSELOT