Bi-Partisan

I don't think of myself as bipartisan. As a matter of fact, for the most part, I take the side against both parties. It seems to me that if the parties would get out of the way we could all be better Americans.

That being said, I did vote Democrat last time. I think we've got a phenomenally astute and sensitive president this time, and I go to bed every night feeling that the country is lucky to have him in place. We are in great need of wisdom and moderation at this point.

I get the feeling that most of my blog readers get a little uneasy when I talk politics. On my first blog I used to get political all the time, but it doesn't come up so much in Hoboken. For one thing, local politics here is a different animal than it was in Alabama. In Hoboken, I don't know where the bodies are buried, or who buried them (literally), and the nature of politics is very different. I observe with detachment and awareness that I'm a long way from being informed about what is really going on. I'm welcome at the city council meetings, but haven't found my way to one yet. I know we're ready for change, and was set to work for a lady name Beth Mason, a city council member who has been exploring the possibility of running for mayor, but haven't heard from her lately.

On the national scene, I was overwhelmed for the whole year of the last campaign. I watched John McCain morph into a different man from the one I had supported in 2000, and Hillary Clinton emerge as a legitimate contender for the office. But the main thing I saw was the extraordinary emergence of one of the most interesting people ever to seek office in this or any country. He confounded pundits and opposition alike, who kept trying to smoke out of him the expected behavior--anger, competitiveness, pettiness--and in the face of adversity all he showed us was brilliance and grace. That he would actually win seemed too good to be true. That we would be subjected to the kind of balanced, positive, and courageous talk he gave last night just wouldn't have seemed possible a few years ago when we heard only a stumbling, inept, and seemingly lost man try to live up to the job with which he was charged.

Yeah, say Obama's critics, but is he bipartisan? To that, I and apparently most of the people in my country say, he has tried to be. He included a number of tax cuts in the program he has signed through. He has made personal overtures to many members of his opposition and the response he gets is, "That isn't enough. You think we're going to consider your suggestions because you're nice to us? No way. We see through that!"

Which all seems like playground bullying to me. A president can only be as bipartisan as the other party will allow.