Panetta Lovefest 2006

Oh, Leon.

On one hand you're one of the most likable Clinton alumni. When the others were out defending and spinning during Monicagate you still stood by your man, the president - but you at least had the dignity to look a little green at the tawdriness of his personal actions. You're still prone to all of the same, tired families-are-hurting rhetoric and dreary anti-growth economics of liberalism, but you try to get along with people on the Right, and on talk shows you are thoughtfully engaged.

So now you write an op-ed in the NYT talking about reconciliation and cooperation between the president and our newly-elected congressional overlords. Here's the nut of it:

While both sides are speaking the words of reconciliation, nothing will really change until they can trust each other. After six years of partisan trench warfare, that will not be easy. It begins with a cease-fire on the rhetoric of cheap shots and ultimatums. Karl Rove and other political consultants need to take a long vacation. Both sides need to speak honestly with each other and be willing to compromise.

It's pretty to think that grown-ups, in the absence of immediate danger, will still work together for the common good despite our differences. But based on the noises that have been made in the past few days by Carl Levin, Chuck Rangel, and even Hillary (who let her feigned moderation slip long enough to gasp something about universal health care) - I'm thinking the post-election honeymoon might already be over. And this president has never spent much time going out of his way to play nicely with the Democrats either (with the exception of Kennedy and NCLB) - so there may not be any love coming back in the other direction.

The rancor will, in all likelihood, continue until 2008 unless some external threat or international crisis forces the grown-ups to stick together in consensus, and act in the best interests of America. Maybe there's even a good chance, with the deadly atmosphere developing between Israel and Iran and it's proxies, and the menacing noises that continue to be made by al-Qaeda. We should be so lucky as to have the problems of partisan warfare, instead of the old fashioned kind of warfare - or the new-fashioned terrorism.

But it's a noble thought.

Tags: Leon Panetta, Congress, Partisanship