I couldn't agree more with UVA Center of Politics Director Larry Sabato on
this one:
The Gregg withdrawal can be a watershed. It's been a grand and noble experiment, but now the Obama administration should abandon aggressive bipartisanship. The president deserves great credit for reaching out to Republicans in Cabinet appointments, frequent consultation and some substantive compromise on the stimulus bill...
Yet pleasantries should never be exchanged at the cost of an electoral mandate. Obama secured a higher percentage of the vote than any Democratic presidential nominee since 1860, save for Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson...Obama should succeed or fail based on enactment of the Democratic platform. Voters will be the judge of Democrats' handiwork in 2010 and 2012. Leave "national unity" governments to parliamentary nations, and let the American two-party system work.
Exactly. The fact is, after 8 years of "conservative" misrule, the American people made a clear choice in November, to turn the government over to new management - Democratic management, that is. Barack Obama deserves great credit for treating everyone, including those who disagree with him or even attack him, with respect, but as he himself said, he won the election. Now, it's time to move forward aggressively at this time of national peril to enact a smart, pragmatic, but also Progressive agenda of change for America. Now, it's time to reverse the damage - to the extent that's possible - of the disastrous Bush/Cheney years, and to lay the groundwork for stron, sustinable growth in years to come. If Republicans want to be part of that, well great! If not, well then they can be consigned to the dustbin of history with the Whigs, Federalists, etc. It's their choice, but let noone say that Barack Obama didn't reach out his hand to meet their clenched fist.
