{"id":151,"date":"2012-10-12T14:50:36","date_gmt":"2012-10-12T19:50:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themodestproposal.com\/?p=151"},"modified":"2012-10-18T14:57:07","modified_gmt":"2012-10-18T19:57:07","slug":"obamas-attempts-at-bipartisanship-a-chronological-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.themodestproposal.com\/?p=151","title":{"rendered":"Obama’s Attempts at Bipartisanship: a Chronological Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Author’s note: This is the first in a two part series using a chronological review of media reports. \u00a0The second article will detail Republican obstructionism of most of the Obama agenda, particularly his jobs bills, a fact that refutes the criticism that Obama’s agenda – the same agenda that Republicans have blocked – has failed)<\/em><\/p>\n

We have heard the “Obama as radical partisan” canard from Republican critics since the first day of Obama’s first term, and the fog of history and rhetoric makes it difficult to objectively assess Obama’s record on bipartisanship. \u00a0Republican dogma says that Obama was the uber-partisan, pushed his agenda from day 1, and that Republicans waited in vain for Obama to work with them on bipartisan solutions. \u00a0In response, Obama supporters point to numerous attempts at bipartisanship and argue that Republican obstructionism is to blame for a failure to collaborate<\/a>. \u00a0The result of this debate is a foggy, backward-looking blame game that provides no tangible view of how this history unfolded and which side of this argument is the right.<\/p>\n

In trying to make the case that Obama tried, hard, to reach across the aisle, I thought it useful to examine the last few years not from the perspective of hindsight, but from the perspective of media coverage of the events of Obama’s first term as they were happening. \u00a0This “time machine” perspective presents a chronological play-by-play of the history of Obama’s attempts at bipartisanship that is uniquely illustrative.<\/p>\n

But first, I want to share a November 2008 piece written by conservative political scientist and writer Peter Berkowitz in the Weekly Standard just days after Obama’s historic win. \u00a0In that article, entitled “Supposing Obama Were a Bipartisan<\/a>“, Berkowitz lays out seven measures that Obama could back if he is serious about truly governing as a centrist.<\/p>\n

Of these 7 measures, two became obsolete (the first having to do with Republican paranoia about the Fairness Doctrine and the second regarding campus speech codes at public universities), and of the remaining 5 Obama backed at least 4:<\/p>\n