Under the Sun
Bipartisanship isn’t all
it’s cracked up to beSwaggering Republicans in post-election Washington are rubbing their hands together in euphoric anticipation of dragging the country their way or the highway, while in Hawaii the smattering of GOP lawmakers -- although buoyed that one of their very own will soon be housed on the fifth floor of the state Capitol -- are be-bopping to the bipartisan timbals.
But now comes the hard part. The election is over. It's time to put up and it won't be easy, not with the Legislature still in the hands of Democrats. After assessing the win-loss columns in the House and Senate, members of both parties were talking bipartisanship, Republicans with faint hope and Democrats with faint conviction.
It ain't gonna happen and it shouldn't.
Throughout the campaign, Republicans argued that voters should increase their numbers because a two-party system would be healthy for Hawaii, and they are right. Governance and decision-making improve when issues and solutions are debated.
No one, however, should hold her breath for this to happen in Washington.
Republicans inside the beltway -- seizing as a big, fat mandate their thin margins of victory for an even slimmer majority in the Senate -- are preparing to railroad an agenda that will cut taxes for their corporate cronies and the wealthy elite, the most powerful of good old boys who make Hawaii's buddy system look like a bunch of pikers. President Bush and company are sharpening their tools to drill the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and any other piece of public land that could possibly produce a smidgen of black gold, while ignoring a growing federal deficit that will hinder chances of providing ordinary Americans with stable Social Security benefits, Medicare, food safety and a future bare of only-by-oil energy.
Republicans, their big campaign bucks and Bush's "with us or against us" brand of counterfeit patriotism aren't solely to blame for what will be a national one-party dictate. Weak-kneed bumblers like House minority leader Dick Gephardt, looking out for his baseless ambition to be president, and skittish Senate president Tom Daschle can lay claim to that. Fearful of Bush's popularity after Sept. 11, their attempts to appear bipartisan exposed their underbellies to Bush adviser and GOP strategist Karl Rove. They failed to see that there was no bipartisanship to Rove's manipulation of national policy for political gain. They let their timidity drown out the Democrats' message, reactive and unfocused as it was.
Hawaii Democrats may suffer the same disorder. They run the spectrum from conservative to liberal because few in the past would have taken the GOP label without expecting taxing battles to win elections. Under the cover of the ruling party, they shimmied into office and as a result don't all line up behind one philosophy.
Governor-elect Linda Lingle clearly understands how to weave herself and her goals with public opinion. She enjoys the favor of corporate and business interests and can hardly fashion her administration outside the Republican mold if she wishes to retain their regard. She may be able to divide and conquer in the Legislature despite party affiliations.
With members at odds in its own ranks, Democrats will have to shuffle their own goals to mingle with Lingle's. Or not. Whatever, they should not obstruct her plans simply because they come from a Republican, but as Democrats they will be expected to stand against ideas that aren't in the best interest of ordinary people, a principle many of them, transfixed by unfettered power, may have forsaken.
Neither party should relinquish partisanship just to get along, just to show voters that they can get something done. That something ought to be worth doing. Compromises after honest and open deliberation are fine as long as public leaders keep their eyes on the goal of public benefit and not for the advantage of another gaggle of good old boys. Republicans and Democrats ought to talk, fight and take sides. Partisanship is what keeps our political system vital.
Cynthia Oi has been on the staff of the Star-Bulletin for 25 years.
She can be reached at: coi@starbulletin.com.