Saturday, April 25, 2009

Adieu, Postpartisanship

Obama may be the most partisan 100-day president of the modern era, but only by a hair's margin. Obama's partisan gap averages 60 percentage points. Bush was the most partisan modern president at 57 points. Clinton closed his first 100 days with a 51-point gap. The partisan gap is the margin between the high approval of a president's political base and the low approval of the opposition party.

The polarized view of Obama would hardly be notable if not for the tenor of Obama's candidacy, as partisanship has steadily risen since Clinton. Transcending the two tribes of Washington was the nucleus of Obama's campaign.

So notes David Paul Kuhn, analyzing Obama's polls historically.

And little wonder that the polarization is what it is. Every item on the left's wish list is on the legislative table, with caution and debate thrown aside in the rush to take advantage of the President's post-election popularity. Obama's rhetoric has been the extension of Bush hatred as a justification for avoiding discussion of anything at odds with the left's vision.

We still believe that political reality will frustrate the Democrats' agenda. It is not easy in this Republic to change things, and deliberately so. That's true even when Democrats hold all the reins of power.

At this point we simply wonder whether the opposition is capable of mounting a serious enough response to rescue the outcome from anthing other than ad hominem recrimination.

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