From Politico, according to a top Obama aide:
"There are lessons for us, and there are lessons for [Republicans], as well," the aide said. "This wasn’t a vote for more partisanship, for more ideology. ... This wasn't a vote to refight the old battles, or re-empower the special interests. This was a vote for cooperation and pragmatism."
If this is truly the White House's position, then the level of disconnect with what what just occured is so profound I'm at a loss for words.
Just to recap the last two years: Democrats made endless bipartisan overtures, watering down their policy initiatives at every turn. Republicans made it publicly clear that they intended to sink Obama, had no interest in bipartisanship, and proceeded to block everything.
Guess which group just swept into the House?
This was as far from a a vote for cooperation and pragmatism as is imaginable, and if Dems don't take that lesson from what just occured then we really are in trouble.
Sometimes and adversary simply can't be reasoned with, they have to be stomped on. Only then will they come to the table hat in hand ready for true negotiation.
It's time to take the word "bipartisanship" and bury it, never to be spoken again. It's time to stand behind our ideals and fight for them, not buy into their idea that our common sense is in fact radical, not to be taken seriously in adult company. It's time to let bipartisanship be their problem.