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Vail Daily’s View: President drops ‘post-partisan’ gloves

Vail Daily Editorial Board
Vail, CO, Colorado

You have to wonder how long the Democrats are just going to take it.

Nationally, and in these pages, the Republicans and their more conservative tea-party brethren have been the ones on the attack.

President Obama took on the Republicans directly Thursday in a speech in Racine, Wis., that for the first time matched the aggressive tone taken toward him and his party in at least a full year.



Maybe that’s good, and maybe not so much. It certainly signals that whatever fuzzy, “post-partisanship” era that the president had hoped to usher in with his election has been scrapped. Mostly turning the other cheek to the partisan barbs and bites is pretty much done now.

The president came out swinging – mocking Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner’s characterization of the recession as an “ant” and rapping Rep. Joe Barton for apologizing to British Petroleum for the mean old government making BP accept financial responsibility for the spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

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Of course he warped the context of their remarks, as Democrats complain their remarks and actions have been deliberately mischaracterized by conservatives. Welcome to politics.

And that’s the point. The Democrats at last have joined the campaign for American hearts and minds in November, deciding belatedly that rather than a referendum on how they’ve been running the country, this election needs to become a real choice between directions. And oh, by the way, what exactly is the Republican direction that’s different from some not-so-stellar recent years with Bush and the GOP in firm control?

So the president showed some fight this week, getting in the pit with opposing partisans, gloves off.

Let’s see if that translates locally. The conservatives have been having field days in our opinion section pretty much because the liberal thinkers disappeared with the end of President Bush’s last term.

We’re more than happy to give them the space for their efforts, just as we’re more than happy to give you liberal voices the same forum. But that’s up to you, and this year the conservatives frankly have clobbered you.

Now that the Democrats stand to lose a lot of ground in November, you’d think their partisans would be a little more motivated. Or less sanguine, anyway. Eagle County could well tip from blue back to its historical red in the voting booth.

The red-meat Republicans sense this, and good for them. They have a decent chance of bringing that rich plurality of independents with them, too.

You libs deserve what you get on the rhetorical level alone if you fail to make yourselves heard – not just here but across the nation.

Are you dispirited? A mite too confident? Or maybe you just haven’t gotten the memo that your president appears to finally have awakened to realize what’s at stake?

Your relative silence is deafening. Good luck in November. Looks like you’re going to need it.

Vail Daily Editorial Board


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