Lets face it, everyone is going to have to learn a lot more about being bi-partisan. Nancy Pelosi isn't in line for winning the Post-Partisan medal of honor either. But the Republicans, having gone from an ocean liner to a dinghy in the last two elections are now proceeding to drill holes in the bottom to prove that they are still relevant.
Meanwhile, President Obama, with the best of intentions may in fact be "loving the Republicans to death". The more he reaches out to them, the more desperately their leadership searches for reasons not to cooperate - while bending over backward to make us believe that they want to. At the same time, Obama's approval numbers among Republican voters are on a steep upward trajectory, further isolating the national party leadership from their last remaining vestige of a constituency.
The American people are a lot smarter than most politicians give them credit for. They know, for example, that (as Robert Reich put it a few weeks ago) if anyone tells you that they know the way out of this mess, they are lying to you. They know we are going to have to conduct a series of bold experiments, not because we want to, but because the alternative is just too frightening to contemplate. They are relieved that President Obama is at the helm but they do not expect miracles, they simply expect action.
The President knows that no one has all the answers. His goal, clearly, is to get Republicans and Democrats to create a united front, standing together as Americans against the challenges ahead. If a partisan vote is the ultimate outcome of this stimulus package. It won't be because the President didn't lead. It will be because at our darkest hour, the Republican party leadership chose partisan sniping over healing the nation. The outcome will be years of wandering in the wilderness for their party. Let's pray it doesn't also mean years in the economic wilderness for our country.
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