Lying To Make Friends

Frank Rich had a fantastic column in the NY Times over the weekend about President Obama’s inaction on gay rights (hat tip to Emily Posts). It reminded me of Bill Maher’s recent exhortation to Obama to be more like Bush in terms of plowing ahead with his agenda and not caring what anyone thinks of him. I agree with Maher up to a point: one of my (many, many) problems with Bush was that he often seemed contemptuous of liberals, and I think it’s an important for a president to recognize that he represents 300 million people and at least be respectful of the opposition. That said, it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that Bush’s real problem wasn’t that he was too partisan, but that he was wrong about damn near everything. And that’s the problem with fetishizing bipartisanship: it tends to blur distinctions between right and wrong. When you put too much importance of valuing both sides of any debate, those who would oppose tax cuts for the wealthy are seen as analogous to those who oppose extending rights to gays and lesbians.

-AR