CBS News Needs A Civics Refresher Course

Because Political Hotsheet's Mark Knoller doesn't know the difference between a majority and a minority in a representative democracy and attacks President Obama for, you know, wanting to pass his agenda.

In this 13th month of his presidency, he's anxious to pass a jobs bill and be seen addressing an unemployment rate that only last week declined from double digits. And his efforts to enact bills on energy, financial regulatory reform and especially health care are stuck in Congress despite the solid majority his party holds in both chambers.

He's appealing for a spirit of bipartisanship - urging Democrats and Republicans alike "to put aside matters of party for the good of the country."

It's a familiar refrain from U.S. presidents who can't get their way in Congress.

"We must put aside our political differences if we're ever to set our economy to rights," said President Reagan in 1982.

"It is time to put aside partisan rivalries and work together for our nation's future," said President Reagan in 1987 in trying to get Congress to enact deficit reduction

"We must put aside partisanship for the sake of our nation," said the first President Bush in 1990 in appealing for congressional cooperation on the budget.

"We must now put aside bitterness and rancor, move beyond partisanship," urged President Clinton in 1993 in trying to get Congress to pass his economic plan.

What these presidential appeals for bipartisanship always mean is: do it my way.

Indeed, the piece is entitled "Obama Says Bipartisanship, But What He Wants Is GOP Surrender".  A President with an overwhelming majority of his party in power should do what the opposition party wants?  Really?  Since when?

Maybe Knoller should be paying attention to the fact that the majority of Americans want to see the GOP work with the President and an overwhelming majority of them want both sides to continue to work on "what the President wants", namely health care legislation.

Also, in 1982, 1987 and 1993, both Regan and Clinton did get their budgets passed, too.  Took some reconciliation as well, but they passed.  Hmm, seems reconciliation is kind of useful...

[UPDATE 10:12 AM] Same goes for WaPo's Michael Gerson, who should again read his own paper's poll on a majority of Americans saying the Republicans aren't working with the President at all.  But he's too busy spinning Paul Ryan's Medicare-eliminating budget as a great idea.  We should trust the Bush Boom again and privatize both medicare and Social Security and hand over the money to the financials.  After all, when do free market economies ever lose money and require taxpayer bailouts?