The Homa Files

Excerpted from WSJ: “Hopes Quickly Fade For a Postpartisan Era”, Seib, Oct. 14, 2008

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Idealists once looked at this presidential campaign, between two candidates who fancy themselves as free of conventional party ties, and thought it might produce the election that finally pulls Washington out of the deep rut of partisan divisiveness it fell into in the 1990s … Instead, partisan animosity is growing rather than waning.

Pollster Peter Hart has found some startling new evidence of high tensions. In surveying voters over the weekend, Mr. Hart found that more than a third of each candidate’s supporters say they have grown to “detest“ (the other candidate) so deeply that they would have a hard time accepting the one they don’t support as president.

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It’s starting to appear that the only way for Washington to overcome partisan divides may be if one party — the Democrats, in this case — wins by such commanding margins that it can overpower the other party.
That might be good for efficiency, but it would be bad for building the kind of national consensus that’s desirable to overcome the enormous economic challenges the nation will face after Nov. 4.

(America will) again elect a president whom a sizable chunk of voters somehow consider illegitimate. That may make for good autumn sport, but it’s discouraging for anyone who thought Washington was about to pull out of its divisive partisan ditch.

Full article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122393387064230201.html 

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