Little Room for Bipartisanship

Americans are yearning for the golden times of yore, when the two parties, in spite of all their differences, could reach bipartisan decisions on the truly major issues facing the nation. The political playing field has been polarized since, and nowadays finding cross-party support is more challenging than ever.

Against this tide, President Barack Obama has promised bipartisan partnership in his reforms currently in the pipelines of Congress. At the same time, the U.S. is remembering the late senator Edward Kennedy, a man who was repeatedly able to promote causes dear to his own heart, while in cooperation with the conservatives.

On Wednesday, while addressing Congress, it was this legacy left by Kennedy that Obama appealed to. Attempting to get both the Democrats and the Republican opposition behind his healthcare reforms, the televised speech has been rated as one of his best – and that is saying something. The reverberations of the powerful speech might just be enough to facilitate agreement on the multi-billion dollar healthcare reform, but mainly by means of the Democrats’ majority in both houses.

The recent town hall squabbles were mirrored on Congress’ floor mid-speech, as a Republican representative accused Obama of lying. The congressman later apologized for his heckling, but this was not an isolated incident. Just the day before, some parents had kept their children home from school as Obama gave a speech to students on the importance of hard work and studying.

This fierce anti-Obama campaign is not being instigated by the majority of U.S. citizens, and possibly not even by the majority of conservatives, but by far-right Republican fringe elements. The intolerant extremists are getting publicity and influence because the Republican party is still in chaos after their crushing defeat in the last elections.

To their opponents, Obama’s planned nationwide and international reforms present huge and lumbering firing targets.