Political blogger Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post is half correct when he writes that bipartisanship is dead — at least until the 113th Congress convenes in 2013. He argues that the present Congress can't agree on much of anything and is waiting for a sign from the voters in the 2012 election.
He makes the following statement:
There is absolutely no incentive — and hasn’t been for several years — for a politician (of either party) to step outside of their partisan comfort zone and reach across the aisle since it’s not clear that anyone would reach back or that’s even what voters want.
I believe he's wrong on two points.
First, bipartisanship is dead. Period.
In the last few years of the Clinton administration, I was disheartened with the lack of bipartisanship and thought that with Bush, things would improve. They didn't — in fact they got considerably worse.
Then when Obama was elected with 53% of the national vote, cheering crowds, and a fresh new agenda, I again thought bipartisanship would improve. Wrong again.
Count me as a non-believer. I don't feel that bipartisanship is ever going to improve. The only possibility I see for a real change in Washington is for the voters to vote out all the politicians who vote strictly party-line, instead of what's good for the country as a whole.
What's the likelihood of that happening? About the same as the Red Sox winning it all this year.
Second, I believe the vast majority of voters DO want politicians to cross the aisle and vote in a way that is good for the country — even if it's not necessarily the party-line. Right now there's no incentive for a politician to vote outside of partisan lines because the voters don't punish this conduct. If they did, and a few members of Congress got voted out because of excessive partisanship — it would change the culture in Washington.
Until that happens, and I don't expect miracles (sorry Red Sox), bipartisanship is dead. Regardless of who wins the presidency in 2012, and which party has the majority in Congress, nothing will change.
In fact, I expect it to get even worse.
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