Obama To Republicans "I won".
In Washington, bipartisanship often seems to mean that the Democrats bend themselves to the Republican political agenda.
And the Republicans never seem to accept that they have lost the argument, which is why so many of them - despite losing the election - continued to argue that the US is a centre right nation. In their world, their policies must continue no matter what results any election yields.
So, it's a very welcome change to hear that Obama has reminded them - and his fellow Democrats - that "I won".
The American people listened to what both Obama and McCain had to say and they firmly came out supporting the position of Obama. The Republicans would like to proceed as if that hadn't happened. But it did.
And Obama is right to remind them of it. Perhaps Obama's version of bipartisanship isn't rolling over and playing dead after all.
His fellow Democrats would do well to emulate the steel which he is showing.
2 comments:
He should be careful with this kind of thing. Republicans respond to strength of leadership, but they also think you need to respond to bullying in kind with escalation. The democrats in the legislature will sooner or later turn from the battle for control against republicans, to battle for control against the executive. At that time, he will value his republican allies.
Of course he will. But I think, against a Republican mindset which always seems to assume that it's ideas must prevail - no matter what the election results - that it is extremely useful to remind them that their philosophy was, in fact, rejected by the majority of the electorate.
Post a Comment