Legal Commentary

Paul Krugman captures why, at least as to the stimulus debate, the talk of bipartisanship is vacuous. Responding to David Broder's insistence that the bill needs "the best ideas from both parties," Krugman said:

You see, this isn?t a brainstorming session ? it?s a collision of fundamentally incompatible world views. If one thing is clear from the stimulus debate, it?s that the two parties have utterly different economic doctrines. Democrats believe in something more or less like standard textbook macroeconomics; Republicans believe in a doctrine under which tax cuts are the universal elixir, and government spending is almost always bad. Obama may be able to get a few Republican Senators to go along with his plan; or he can get a lot of Republican votes by, in effect, becoming a Republican. There is no middle ground.

Absolutely right, at least if we are talking about substantive, as opposed to procedural, bipartisanship. If the GOP believes the bill has too much spending and not enough tax cuts (because that is what their economic principles suggest) and Obama believes the balance is about right (because that is what his economic principles suggest), there is no where to go--no way to create a bill with the best ideas of both parties.

Note that none of this blames Republicans over Democrats. While I share the Democratic economic views, others do not and maybe they are right and we are wrong. However we got here, there is an impasse. And my point is there is nothing wrong with this state of affairs. It is why we had an election three months ago in which the public put one side in power. It is why we will have another election in 21 months that will serve as a mini-referendum on this whole debate. I am not trying to argue that substantive bipartisanship is bad. I am trying to suggest that it may not be possible in some situations and to blithely insist that it is the inherent absolute good, in a situation of fundamental disagreement, misunderstands the situation and focuses on the wrong debate.

I think I am turning into a parliamentarian.