The American people are NOT "yearning for bipartisanship"; they're yearning for GOOD LEADERSHIP

[brentspeak]

John Kerry said today, in endorsing Obama: "The American people are yearning for bipartisanship".

Wrong. The American people are yearning for good leadership that acts in the People's best interest -- not some lobbyist's best interests. Leaderhip which will see to it that the working and middle classes will no longer be trampled upon by corporate special interests. Leadership will get us out of the hell that is Iraq. Leadership which wants to and will rebuild this country's manufacturing base.

Leadership which actually gives a damn about the average American working person, for once.

The American people don't want either a partisan OR a bipartisan President; they just want a President who will get the job done on their behalf.

[Buzz Clik]

1. Being a good leader does not preculude being bipartisan.

Personally, I'm weary of the divisiveness. I'd love to see someone bridge the divide.

[Big Blue Marble]

2. How exactly does a leader govern a country that is split down the middle?

If we identify only as partisans, we will forever give our country and its wealth away to
the few while we are distracted by bickering. How effective has our government been if providing for our people during these
rough partisan times? Until a leader has a solid majority behind him/her, we as a people will continue
to have no voice, no power. That is Obama's genius, his vision. To move us as an united people forward.

Before you start to attack, no he is not perfect. I can list several issues where I totally and vehemently disagree with him.
But if we as a country as people don't reduce the schism between us, they are going to steal the whole damn thing.

[jgraz]

15. It's not split down the middle

It's spilt between 75% sane, normal people and 25% retarded nutbags. You don't "govern" the retarded nutbags, you just push them aside and get on with it.

[terisan]

3. Well said. The slave seeks to throw off the yoke of the master, not work together in a

bipartisan spirit. We used to be citizens of a Republic , now we are subject slaves in a dictatorship.

[EFerrari]

4. That's right. K&R

[chefgirl]

5. Know what I find funny?

Funny how many Republicans are all about this bi-partisanship 'movement' going on.

Couldn't be because they know they're gonna lose their ass in the general, could it??

I couldn't agree with you more, brentspeak. People ARE sick of the partisan bickering, etc..., but a strong Dem president could use that fact as leverage against those who would seek to continue the gridlock.

-chef-

[Reciprocity]

27. Exactly, you only hear bipartisanship on the democratic side never on the republican side.

Where were those voices the last seven years? No I'm not ready to make nice yet.

[krabigirl]

30. Exactly! And what about all those years when liberals were called traitors??

[Reciprocity]

36. I don't know, maybe it's because I'm a C-SPAN junkie.....

but it will take a long time for me to forget or forgive what I've heard, seen and lived through, the last seven years. I want someone who is a fighter not a lover, when it comes to the republicans.

[cali]

6. I can't imagine presuming to speak for the American people

and they hardly all want the same thing in a President. In any case, we'll see what the dem base wants in a President over the next several weeks.

[brentspeak]

7. Well, why not? Obama certainly presumes to be speaking for the American people

My opinion of what the American people want is certainly no less valid than that of Obama's.

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2008/01/an_obama_traffic_jam.html

Obama said his competitors were "terrific candidates who bring a lot a talent," but he made the case that only he offers a game-changing candidacy.

"It's easy to be against something, but what the American people want is to be for something," he said. "They want some affirmation that we can still do big things in this country."

[Pacifist Patriot]

13. Granted that is treading treacherous ground, but I'd question the stability of...

an individual who said they wanted bad leadership. Gracious, I hope that a desire for good leadership would be a universal. Now if you want to get into a definition of good, that's an entirely different conversation all together.

[old guy]

8. Bipartisanship; Wonderful concept!

Reality,however, bites. IMHO Bipartisanship can only be accomplished if both factions are willing to cooperate. The repubs are not going to cooperate! They are and always have been obstructionists. They are not going to change their agenda, especially for a Democratic president. Couple that with the fact that there a too many Dino reps in the congress that have and will again disrupt the path to meaningful change. Do we give up? No. Just keep in mind, it will be a long uphill battle, decades perhaps, Unfortunately there are many out there who will forget the problems the repubs have caused and continue to elect them, to all of our peril.

[The Stranger]

9. The Democrats just keep getting fucked by their counterparts in the GOP, and then they ask for more.

You cannot work with the GOP. You must fight the interests they represent because they will only fight you.

[cynatnite]

10. Getting the job done requires bipartisanship at times...

I'd prefer an administration willing to work with people other than the one that says 'FU' to anyone they don't like.

[jgraz]

16. Which people are you willing to work with?

You want to compromise with the Cheney wing of the Rethugs? You want to meet the KKK or Fred Phelps halfway? There's always a point at which people voluntarily remove themselves from consideration for inclusion in a modern, human discussion. The 25% who still support W and his war have done just that.

Blanket bipartisanship is the opposite of leadership. Good leaders make decisions on whom they will work with and exclude those who won't participate in a productive dialog.

[cynatnite]

19. Was there something in my post that indicated...

I want an administration to meet with Hilter-types?

Sorry, I didn't get specific enough for you. :eyes:

[jgraz]

22. Yes, if you're supporting Obama's version of bipartisanship

He needs to say explicitly that neocons and corporate pirates have no place in an Obama administration. Until he does that, we have to assume that bipartisanship to him means exactly the same thing it does to everyone else: working with the people who have fucked this country beyond all recognition.

[cynatnite]

25. Oh...

I see. You expect more details than what common sense usually dictates. Gotcha.

Unfortunately, in the real world I'm afraid he's going to have to deal with those folks we don't like if he does win the WH as would any other candidate. It's a matter of how they're dealt with and what we get out of it that I'm concerned about.

[jgraz]

26. Nope, I expect that he's planning to do what he says until he says otherwise

You can drink all the Hope Kool-Aid you want, but it won't change the fact that what Obama says is that the homophobes and the misogynists and the racists and the global warming deniers and the creationists and the warmongers and the corporate sock-puppets in Republican party are going to have a big say in his administration.

[cynatnite]

28. Do you have a link to that? n/t

[jgraz]

31. Yes, you've lost the argument. Now go find your own links.

[cynatnite]

35. You made the claim he said it...

and if you're not willing to provide proof I can only assume you're either lying or just pulling crap out of your butt....like Rush Limbaugh.

[jgraz]

38. Asking for a link: the DU equivalent of throwing the gun once you've run out of bullets

:rofl:

[kentuck]

11. Excellent point...

We will not move forward with bipartisanship with the present stranglehold of the special interests.

[Deja Q]

12. I wholly agree:

Bipartisanship comes FROM a good leader; regardless of party designation. People of either party will recognize a good leader, even when they don't agree 100% on something, and follow. No, it's not easy to do...

[OKNancy]

14. Why is it everytime it looks like WE could be the winners

the cry goes up for bipartisanship? The Republicans want bipartisanship because they hear the wolves at the door. Makes me think the Democrats are just like the stereotype.. lily-liver'd cowards.

I say NO to bipartisanship. It's our turn.

[readmoreoften]

24. Agreed. Where is the republican cry for bipartisanship? /nt

[krabigirl]

33. totally. Look at Congress. I'd say they are being bipartisan.

What have they done? Where does this leave the people of this country? I don't want to unite with Republicans, unless they concede some of the crappy things they've done to women's rights, and repair the wall between church and state. Oh, and maybe admit that Iraq was an expensive mistake.

[RufusTFirefly]

17. I'll be damned if I'm going to meet a rightwing nutjob halfway

Sorry, but it's true. I have no intentions of singing Kumbaya with these whackos. The country has already shifted dangerously to the right. I don't see the benefit of moving even further right.

"Some people argue that we’re going to sit at a table with these people and they’re going to voluntarily give their power away. I think it is a complete fantasy; it will never happen." -- John Edwards

[Snarkoleptic]

18. Repukes are very willing to reach across the aisle.

If "across" means under and "aisle" means restroom stall partition.

But seriously, it's going to take some major work to undo the damage the repukes have done.
When Dems control the White House and both Houses of Congress, bipartisanship must not be used as an excuse to fail in turning back the PNAC clock.

[Hutzpa]

20. So you'll rather have division.....

wonderful, smart anecdote.

[OzarkDem]

21. We don't need spineless Dems in the WH

they've been enough of a failure in the Senate, no point in having more of the same.

[Reciprocity]

40. Good one!LOL n/t

[Johonny]

23. I'm yearning for bipartisanship

I just don't think it's the Dems that are exactly blocking it. It's the most obstructionist minority in congressional history that's the problem. So I just don't agree with Kerry that the Dem candidate is going to be a big factor in creating this bipartisanship

[krabigirl]

29. I sure don't want bipartisanship. Not when Republicans want to see the middle class bleed.

And women to lose the right to choose.

[debbierlus]

32. Fuck bipartisanship. These people will slit your throat in a second

Bipartisanship with people who have no interest in governing. They are corporate whores & liars. They are murderers.

Yes, let's be bipartisan. What a load of CRAP.

[Tatiana]

34. When the Republican party changes and returns to its roots of civil liberties,

fiscal responsibility, and rejects nation building, I will be willing to consider bipartisanship.

Reality, however, says that the current crop of Republicans are greedy, immoral, criminal thugs who have no respect for the Constitution or rule of law. I do NOT want to consider compromise with such people, nor do I think we owe it to the American public to dumb down our own values and rights in the name of "bipartisanship."

[sendero]

37. Kerry never did get it..

.. and that's why he lost an election that should have been a piece of cake.

Thanks, John, you truly are the gift that keeps on giving.

Jackass.

[Ignis]

39. Bipartisanship only works if both parties are playing.

As we've clearly seen numerous times over the past 8 years, the Republicans are willing to stiff-arm us on any issue that is important to some element of their base.

Working under a rallying cry of "Bipartisanship" is beginning to make me think that some Democrats have never heard the expression, "Fool me once...."

[Orwellian_Ghost]

41. K&R n/t