He Gets It, He Really Does…

Greg Sargent makes a breakthrough!

First, it’s worth distinguishing between two different approaches to “bipartisanship.” It’s one thing for Obama to put Republicans in key posts simply for the sake of making GOP party leaders and hidebound bipartisanship-worshiping D.C. opinion-makers happy. That’s a non-starter: No amount of sops will stop the GOP from trying to stymie Obama’s initiatives.

But if Obama’s “bipartisanship” consists of trying to bring in rank and file Republicans and independents and mobilizing them behind big initiatives, that’s another matter entirely. Ed Kilgore calls this bipartisanship “from the ground up,” an effort to use the “aggressive, direct stimulation of public opinion to push members of the opposing party, especially those from states or districts where the President is popular, to come across the line.

So, it turns out that spending our precious time trying to convert the hardcore ideologues who nearly wrecked our country over the past 8 years, is well, a waste of time. The same people who have gotten where they are through throat-cutting political tactics. Instead we should be bringing in pragmatic thinkers from the other side of the aisle, who are willing to take part in peaceable, reasonable debate and even have everybody give up on a few of their bigger ideas in order to get together good comprehensive plans.

Eureka!

-Marc-