Camaraderie begins at home

[rhu]

Reading Ted Kennedy's autobiography, and Sen. Bayh's op-ed piece in the Times the other day, and several other pieces of the years, I was struck by the comments that one of the reasons for the decline in bipartisanship in Washington DC is that Republicans and Democrats no longer socialize with one another.

So it struck me -- no one dares ignore an invitation to the White House, right? So if Pres. Obama wants to be postpartisan, what would happen if he were to re-establish the sorts of dinners for which Katherine Graham was famous? Let's say he has an off-the-record informal dinner at the White House every week for 8 Democrats, 8 Republicans, and a Supreme Court Justice every now and then. Let's assume that the guests would be selected based on whom the White House staff thinks would actually enjoy one another's company.

Sure, it wouldn't have an immediate effect. But what if it slowly resurrected the idea that our elected representatives and Senators could sometimes deal with each other as people and not as adversarial abstractions?

Comments

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I disagree with you.

I think it WOULD have an immediate effect. Or at least, within a week or two. Socializing with people you disagree with changes things pretty darned quickly.

[warlord-mit.livejournal.com]

But bullwinkle, that trick NEVER works!

[bourbon-cowboy.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that the decline in bipartisanship has to do with Fox News. Cable in general, perhaps, but Fox news for sure. When we had only three networks, we also had to agree on one sort of mainstream political reality that appealed to the largest TV demographic. (Racism was wrong, but feminists were radicals; corporate malfeasance was wrong, but unions were dangerous, etc.) Now the Fox reality is under no obligation to communicate with, or compete for, the mainstream viewpoint: they just slice off their piece of the demographic and propagandize away. And those are the people who the GOP are hearing from. I'd be terrified too.

Camaraderie begins at home

[(Anonymous)]

I've heard it said that the jet engine is to blame for the logjams in Washington. Before jets, representatives would actually relocate their families to DC, have kids in the same schools, etc. Now that everyone jets home for the weekend, there's no cross-culturalism.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a great idea.