When Jon asked a few of us to fill in while he frolics in the waves of Maui, I thought about putting something profound together, but then I remembered he suggested that we just be ourselves. Well, I’m a simple country boy – and I was struck by a story in George Will’s column about a newly elected Senator refusing to shake President Bush’s hand.
Where I come from that’s the kind of rudeness that just isn’t acceptable.
After recent elections gave Democrats control of the US Senate and House of Representatives, we heard their leaders talk a lot about the coming era of bi-partisanship.
Well, it turns out the talk was pretty much just talk — kind of like CA Assemblymembers who publicly turned down a $12,000 pay hike, then quietly accepted the money a few months later (more on that another time.)
Will recounted a story about Senator-elect Jim Webb ditching the reception line at an event hosted by the President so he wouldn’t have to shake the President’s hand. Later, he responded rudely to the President’s polite inquiry about Webb’s son, who is stationed in Iraq. Webb’s excuse was "leaders do some symbolic things to try to convey who they are and what the message is."
He accomplished his goal– but the "symbolic thing" conveyed is that Webb is a rude and petty politician who personalizes policy differences. Freshman Democrat Senators sure have a peculiar idea of what bi-partisanship means.
That leads me to wonder what the bi-partisan agenda might be. Some have tried to compare 2006 to the GOP takeover over a decade before, but in 1994 Republicans won largely because they showed voters an alternative vision and a real agenda – the Contract with America. Democrats won in 2006 mostly because they were not Republicans — and frankly, neither were the Republicans.
So far, Democrats haven’t done much more than talk about being bi-partisan, throw out couple of random issues for their base voters — and, of coarse, they have done a few "symbolic things."
Bi-partisanship means that both sides work together on those things they can agree on — but looks like Democrats like Jim Webb are more interested in symbolic insults.
It’s going to be a long year for Democrats if Webb’s symbolism is the best they have to offer.
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