Monday, February 9, 2009

Being Arianna Huffington III

In a post today, Arianna Huffington wrote that President Obama has to chose between "bipartisanship fetishism vs. what's best for America." I could not agree more. I have written a lot here about the necessity of bipartisanship; but after last week I began to wonder if the effort itself was being turned into a political platform to negate the President's plan and to jockey already for 2012.

After adapting a Washington bipartisanship style of "going to the other party, splitting any differences you have, patting each other on the back about how nice and civil you are being, and moving on," it's now time to get down to business. President Obama must lead with the support of the people who have resoundingly voted for change in all branches of the federal government.

Watching the partisanship practiced in Washington last week, I began to feel sickened by the lack of respect for this particular time and the real difficulty that so many Americans now face. It seemed like the hooks were in and a wave was building that had little to do with the matter at hand and more to do with regaining power at the expense of President Obama's desire for bipartisanship. The President wised up quickly. I believe that he will chose what's best for America.

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