Bipartisanship is good for both sides

Over the last two weeks, a number of columnists and foreign policy analysts have advocated a return to bipartisanship and civil discourse as the best course for America's future. These suggestions have ignited hot responses by bloggers, primarily on the left, who see "bipartisanship" as the Washington elite's codeword for capitulation by Democrats to the Bush administration on Iraq and other major policy issues. Last week, Atlantic Monthly blogger Matthew Yglesias wrote in the Los Angeles Times that the invasion of Iraq itself "was a completely bipartisan affair" and that the "current elites" are merely concerned about losing their "cozy positions" to "some new experts who've shown better judgment."

By Anne-Marie Slaughter

August 9, 2007