When Barack Obama was elected, he promised to change the way Washington works. He wanted more bipartisanship, more working together for solutions, rather than partisan politics as usual.
But so far, the Republicans have proved that they have no interest in finding solutions, only in political points scoring. So what can be done?
This situation is merely a symptomn of a problem that is happening worldwide, day in, day out. And it is this...
Politicians of all parties, but especially so of conservative or right wing bent, have forgotten what politics is really all about.
It's not about scoring political points, it's not about winning arguments, it's not even about winning elections. It's about finding real solutions to the problems that face us all. This is why some Republican issues like Gay marriage and the so-called reintroduction of the "Fairness Doctrine" make them look so out of touch. These are not issues that affect most people in their ordinary everyday lives.
Right now, everybody is more worried about the economy than anything else. But most people in the US seem to think that this recession is primarily a US one, where as in fact it is a global recession.
There is also real concern about if and how and when something will be done aboout what the previous Bush administration did in rolling back democratic government. Heck, looking from outside, it looked like a democratically elected dictatorship, just like many other dictators. Contray to popular belief, most dictators are actually elected first before they become dictators. Look at the example of Zimbabwe, and President Robert Mugabe, who regularly undergoes a re-election process in order to re-affirm his hold on power.
Obama and the Deomcratic Party run Congress are going to have to reassure the American public, and the world at large, that not only will we get through the recession, but that real justice will prevail, lest a dangerous precident be set for future generations.
And what of the Republicans? Well, they've already thrown their former president under the bus, so they can have little argument if the Congress presses charges. They need to do two things really badly.
The first is to distance themselves publically and privately from the Conservative demagogues of Talk Radio and Fox News, such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly. These people and others like them are hurting the Republican Party and need to be put back where they belong, at the outskirts of political life and debate, rather than being what drives the Republican agenda.
The second is to readjust their priorities to focus on what are real problems and priorities for real people, not the political activisits. By this combination, the Republican Party might actually make US politics somewhat interesting again. But actual bipartisanship will not happen.
If the Republicans do not decide to move back toward the centre, away from the Conservatives, then there's always the Libertarians who could take their place, in time, but you'd have a long period of Democratic Party dominated politics, in much the same way that the Republican Party has dominated since 1981. Whether that would be truly good for political discourse is a matter of opinion, but I don't think it would be.