Why Bipartisanship is Good Politics

First, he promised bipartisanship, but got heavily rebuffed.

But there are more positive reasons for Obama effort at bipartisanship.

Obama already appears to have gone further in the pursuit of bipartisanship than his predecessors.

Mourdock s position, by contrast, was that, Bipartisanship ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view.

LONDON Bipartisanship seems to have taken a drubbing in Washington since President Barack Obama got to the White House.

Recognition of these central realities and bipartisanship in addressing them is critical for America s future, and that of the West.

BERKELEY In a rare act of bipartisanship, the United States Congress recently passed legislation to encourage more inward foreign direct investment.

Political gridlock in Washington and in the United States Congress demonstrates the absence of the bipartisanship needed to address America s fiscal issues.

Perhaps it is for these reasons that much of my work is largely about bipartisanship or showing the flip side to more commonly media enforced stereotypes.

Lugar, for example, had voted to confirm Obama s Supreme Court nominations. Mourdock s position, by contrast, was that, Bipartisanship ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view.

But there are more positive reasons for Obama effort at bipartisanship. In any democratic system of checks and balances, leaders usually require coalitions in order to get what they want done.

As the efficacy of military power is reduced, so the importance of economic power grows. Recognition of these central realities and bipartisanship in addressing them is critical for America s future, and that of the West.

My complaints are that he is not technocratic enough, that he is pursuing the chimera of bipartisanship too far, and that, as a result, many of his policies will not work well, or at all.

In all of these cases, Obama is ruling, or trying to rule, by taking positions that are at the technocratic good government center, and then taking two steps to the right sacrificing some important policy goals in the hope of attracting Republican votes and thereby demonstrating his commitment to bipartisanship.