Belated Bipartisanship: Peggy Noonan’s Double Standard for Republican – Democratic Cooperation

“Sauce, Geese, Ganders** . . . & Democrats”

Peggy Noonan’s singular rhetorical gift is projecting a sense of what I’ll call, “unassailable, high-minded even-handedness.”

Here’s an example:

“Republicans should understand that President Obama wants a deal . . . He needs to show he can roll with history’s punches. And there’s a sense he actually yearns for greatness. When he talks about deal-making he sounds almost wistful. He wants to do something big.

Do it with him.”

—“America Could Use Some Deals,” Peggy Noonan; The Wall Street Journal.

Who could argue with such enlightened, “better angels” counsel?

If only Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans had heeded her advice, and resolved to work with President Obama, instead of engaging in unyielding obstructionism . . . then blaming Obama for the resulting stalemate.

Unfortunately, the Republicans never took that advice.

Oh! and I have a confession:

Noonan never gave it (at least to my knowledge).

Loyalty to Country Party

In fact, Noonan’s op-ed piece (excerpted above) didn’t appear early in President Obama’s administration; it ran in today’s online Wall Street Journal.

And it was aimed at President Trump and the post-2018 midterm Democrats, not Obama and Mitch McConnell a decade ago (I confess, I reversed the parties’ roles).

Here’s the real, unaltered version:

“Democrats should understand the president wants a deal . . . . He needs to show he can roll with history’s punches. And there’s a sense he actually yearns for greatness. When he talks about deal-making he sounds almost wistful. He wants to do something big.

Do it with him.”

“Doing Something Big”

Don’t get me wrong.

I applaud Noonan’s appeal for bipartisanship, and think it’s exactly the right approach now — one that newly-empowered House Democrats would be wise to consider.

But then, I also thought bipartisanship between the President and Congress, Democrats & Republicans was the right approach a decade ago, when the proverbial (political) shoe was on the other foot, and the country was dealing with the horrific aftermath of The 2008 Crash.

How’s that for unassailable, high-minded evenhandedness?? 🙂

**Refers to the adage, “what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.”

See also, “Recession ‘Name Game’“; and “Diagnosing Capitalism’s ’08 Melt-Down.”