Bipartisanship is Nice, But Unlikely

Last week the election of Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown to the Senate caused uproar among liberals and conservatives. While conservatives boasted of a changing tide in public opinion, liberals began panicking about a possible hemorrhaging of seats when the general election takes place in November. The loss of one Senate seat leaves Democrats one vote short of the filibuster-proof majority they held for the past year.

Democrats have spent much of the last week crying over spilt milk and pointing fingers at who is to blame for the loss of their supermajority. The supermajority that they once held in the Senate was actually never that useful to them. In her nightly news show, Rachel Maddow pointed out that the supermajority was the “Magical Unicorn” of the Democratic Party; it was nice to have, but the Democrats were never really able to keep their own party on the same page enough to take advantage of it. The health care bill that was passed through the Senate scraped by with 60 votes, but not before having to add special concessions to gain the support of Senators like Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson. These concessions made the Democratic Party look weak, as well as lowering public support for the bill.

Many Democrats feel that the election of Senator Brown is the end to all hopes of passing the heath care bill, as well as any other bill of substance. Thinking this is a recipe for failure in November. Republicans want the American public to turn against the majority party, and they are doing everything they can to make this happen. By caving in to the will of Republicans, the Democrats are proving that they are weak, and decreasing their chances of being the majority party after the November election. Republicans are correct in the fact that many Americans are unhappy with the current leadership in Washington, but that does not mean they want the Democrats to completely stop pushing for the passage of legislation all together.

Many leaders in both houses have stressed the need for bipartisan support of legislation, which would give citizens the change in Washington they have been waiting for. This is entirely unrealistic in the current political climate. Republicans have vowed to vote no on all bills that the Democrats introduce in an attempt to make it look like the majority party is unable to pass meaningful legislation. This leaves Democrats with the choice of playing dead or taking a stand and using methods like reconciliation to pass bills. Reconciliation may not be viewed as a good process by some, but it is much better than the alternative. The process was used extensively by the Bush administration to pass bills that were unable to gain enough support.

Democrats should attempt to work with Republicans on legislation, but if they continue to vote no, other methods must be used to pass bills without their support. America needs strong leadership in Congress, and seeing that Democrats are willing to overcome obstacles to pass legislation is a great first step to show this. The time may come when both parties work together in harmony, but that time is clearly not the present. We are not holding our breath for this to happen, and neither should anyone else.