But there was always a problem with Obama’s “post-partisan” positioning and it had nothing to do with whether he had to be a “legislative president.”
It had everything to do with the fact that the people Obama said he’d reach out to are batshit crazy, and finding some workable middle ground with people who think tax cuts increase revenue, global warming is a hoax, saving General Motors is Hitler-esque, whose policies ran the country into a ditch–and who think Sarah Palin was qualified to be president–was always a flawed premise, to say the least.
Some of us believe that there really has been and can be progress in human affairs. Examples are plentiful: the development of democratic government, the abolition of slavery, the improvement of working conditions, civil rights for oppressed groups, universal suffrage, national independence from colonial powers, a social safety net, and great leaps forward in scientific understanding. Other people seek to undo many of these changes because they limit the power of elites. Of course there will be compromises along the way, but to elevate compromise, without regard to the merits, to a primary goal is both bad policy and in the long run a political loser.
