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"Bipartisan"?

By tfk on December 27, 2006.

The Wichita Eagle's staff ask "Could private savings accounts be a bipartisan reform?" I cannot identify the bipartisanship in their text, though:

I was surprised when President Bush said last week that Social Security reform was one area on which he hoped to reach an agreement with the new Congress. … But Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., also promoted private savings accounts as a bipartisan solution in a Washington Post op-ed piece this week.

Just saying that it's bipartisan does not make it so. Two Republicans are pushing this, that is not bipartisan. Even if Joe Lieberman and a couple of House Dems jump on that bandwagon, it still won't be bipartisan.

For too long, having a figleaf supporter from across the aisle was enough to make a bill bipartisan. Hopefully a new understanding will emerge in which "bipartisan" comes to mean that a bill actually has broad support from both parties.

Tags
Policy and Politics

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