I don’t mean to dump on Republicans—frequently they’re the one thing that makes Democrats look comparatively good—but they don’t seem to realize that the days of “my way or the highway” and “tax cuts: the only economic tool in the box” are over. I do give them some little credit for finally realizing that the military is not a hammer and the rest of the world a collection of nails.* But what’s up with this whining about a lack of bipartisanship? I think a writer at Economist.com got it right:

…But just from a simple strategic standpoint, how does this make sense? A very popular president goes out of his way to earn Republican support, doesn't get it, and nonetheless passes his bill. To me this suggests one thing and one thing only—Barack Obama shouldn't give two figs about what the GOP caucus has to say on any issue, large or small, for the remainder of this Congress' duration.

The GOP may already have determined that their best hope is to aim for a good year in 2010, but there are two long years, during which a lot of critical policy decisions will be made, before that time. Republicans may have just rendered themselves irrelevant in those debates. That doesn't strike me as the kind of thing that's likely to please one's constituents.