Legal Commentary

Who Woulda Thunk It? Media Says Obama's Post Partisan Unity Schtick Failed

By Big Tent Democrat

Steve Benen is nonplussed that Mark Halperin thinks President Obama failed in his quest for post partisan unity. Benen writes:

Halperin believes, for reasons that are unclear, that the paramount goal was to win the support of lawmakers who were wrong and who were advocating bad ideas. It's not about what works, or what would actually improve the economy in the midst of a serious recession. What really matters is "bipartisan solutions." Why? Because Mark Halperin says so. Merit be damned -- if Democrats liked the legislation and Republicans didn't, it's necessarily flawed.

(Emphasis supplied.) Come on. President Obama said and signalled so. For crissakes, that was the essence of the post partisan unity schtick. Let's not act like naifs. This is, in part, Obama's own doing. It is silly to pretend otherwise. Of course what Halperin says is absurd. But it was absurd when President Obama said it too.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on January 29, 2009 (boomark / email).