Why Bipartisanship is Good Politics

LONDON Bipartisanship seems to have taken a drubbing in Washington since President Barack Obama got to the White House.

But there are more positive reasons for Obama effort at bipartisanship. In any democratic system of checks and balances, leaders usually require coalitions in order to get what they want done.

As the efficacy of military power is reduced, so the importance of economic power grows. Recognition of these central realities and bipartisanship in addressing them is critical for America s future, and that of the West.

BERKELEY In a rare act of bipartisanship, the United States Congress recently passed legislation to encourage more inward foreign direct investment. Democrats and Republicans agree that FDI, or insourcing, is important to US jobs and competitiveness.

First, he promised bipartisanship, but got heavily rebuffed. Second, he and his administration were so busy trying to build consensus that they watered down some of the vital ingredients of the stimulus package, and failed to defend it robustly from Republican attack.

But the strategy has been tough to execute partly because Congress' staunchest conservatives, such as Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and his Tea Party affiliated allies, refuse to be tamed. In fact, the Tea Party candidates who swept into Congress in 2010 campaigned on a pledge never to compromise even, apparently, if it means opposing their own party members, such as House Speaker John Boehner, whom they view as too amenable to bipartisanship.