Partisan, Bi-Partisan

On the campaign trail, during the Presidential Election in 2008, Barack Obama promised to reach out to the Republican Party if he should win the Presidency. True to his promise and to the dismay of many Progressives, President Obama has done this by trying to fill his cabinet with a diverse group of individuals from both Republican and his own Democratic Party. Some say this is a political ploy to eliminate possible presidential competition in 2012. Others say this is good politics where, in trying to keep his political promises, is creating the "unite not divide" leadership, for his legacy. As the proverbial “Honeymoon” period of his Presidency winds down, President Obama finds himself at odds with his own party with trying to pass bills and making laws in a bi-partisan manner.

A good example of this comes from an excerpt of the “New Rules” segment of the HBO Talk Show Real Time with Bill Maher;
http://www.hbo.com/billmaher/new_rules/index.html
And, this is why I don't want my president to be a TV star. Because TV stars are too worried about being popular, and too concerned with getting renewed. Oh, you can relax about that one, Mr. President. The Party is doing everything they possibly can to insure that you'll get re-elected. The Republican Party. Speaking of which—speaking of the Republicans, if you can't shove some real reform down their throats now, then when? Folks, Barack Obama needs to start putting it on the line in fights against the banks, the energy companies and the health care industry. I never thought I'd say this, but actually, what he needs in his personality is a little George Bush. He needs to stop worrying about being loved and bring out that smug, insufferable swagger that says, "Suck on it, America." George Bush had horrible ideas—torture, deregulation, preemptive war, tax cuts for the rich—but he pushed them through in their full measure, never mind the Congress or the Constitution, the Geneva Convention — Magna Carta—Hammurabi's Code. The point is, he didn't care if it made him unpopular with every human on the planet not named Cletus or Fred Barnes. Which it did. And what we need to do is to marry the good ideas that Barack Obama has, with a little bit of the Bush attitude and certitude. I'd love it if Obama came out one day and said, "Jesus told me to fix health care." In conclusion, Bush was bad, but he never cared if he was seen out in a restaurant having a burger with Dick Cheney. If he wanted a burger, he picked up the phone in the White House and said, "I'm the president, bring me a burger!" And they would say, "Sir, this is NORAD." "Would you please stop ordering burgers into the red phone?"
I'm glad Obama is president, but the "audacity of hope" part is over. Right now, I'm hoping for a little more audacity.

The following is one of the definitions of Partisan, from the Wikipedia Dictionary;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partisan
In politics, partisan literally means organized into political parties. The expression "partisan politics" usually refers to fervent, sometimes militant support of a party, cause, faction, person, or idea. Although this is typically an appellation with negative connotations, some supporters embrace the term.

After eight years of the previous administration, many of President Obama’s supporters want him to be a little less bi-partisan and push more of his agenda, using the partisan power he was fortunate enough, to have accumulated. Many feel the last eight years showed a Republican Party that was not bi-partisan but in fact, so partisan, that they pushed laws and regulations through Congressional approval, while steam rolling over their Democratic rivals. Some say this is what contributed to the collapse of our economy and our decline on the world stage.

It will be interesting to see if our new President will lose his patience with the Republican stonewalling, that he has been facing, and take the advice to push for his agenda to be completed. The Republicans have pushed back on virtually every initiative he has brought to the table. So intense and bitter, the battles have become, it is seven months since the election in 2008 and the Minnesota Senate Seat is still being contested by Republican Norm Coleman. The incumbent Mr. Coleman, was defeated by Democratic Candidate Al Franken.

Due to the challenges made by the Republican Party and Mr. Coleman, the people of Minnesota only have one Senator representing them. This will remain until the matter is finally decided. Mr. Coleman has promised to go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court before he will concede defeat. With this type of determination from the opposing party and the growing discontent within his own, it is probably just a matter of time before our calm, cool thinking leader decides he has had enough and takes out a big can of “Whoop Ass”. When he does, the Republican Party might see it as a Pandora’s Box, they wish they never opened.

That’s How I See It.

Websites of reference;
http://www.billmaher.com/
http://www.hbo.com/billmaher/new_rules/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partisan