Nice Guys Finish Last What Obama could learn from Bush about bipartisanship.
Noam Scheiber February 11, 2010 | 12:00 am
Everyone remembers that George W. Bush’s first tax cut was contentious when Congress considered it back in 2001. So contentious, in fact, that the Bushies didn’t even try passing it under normal Senate procedures. The GOP leadership, worried that it couldn’t collect 60 votes to overcome a Democratic filibuster, relied on reconciliation, the Senate rule that allows budget-related measures to pass with a simple majority.
What fewer people remember is the margin by which Bush’s tax cut finally passed the Senate. As it happens, the number of yeas was 62—including 12 Democrats. That would qualify as a bipartisan love-fest by contemporary standards.
There’s a lesson here: For months now, Republicans and many Democrats have faulted the White House for being too partisan in its dealings with Congress on health care. For example, in an article in The Hill this week, one centrist senator complained that chief of staff Rahm Emanuel had “misjudged the Senate by focusing on only a few Republicans.” “The Senate doesn’t work that way,” the senator said. “You need a radius of 10 to 12 from the other side if you’re going to have a shot."
