Last week on Fox News' "On the Record with Greta Van Susteren," former half-term Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin is "interviewed" by Van Susteren who clearly has arranged this setup question with Palin so she can use some of her "zingers" against President Obama and health care reform.
This bill is not bipartisan and everyone wants a bipartisan bill, Van Susteren asserted. "Where did this one go off the rails in terms of achieving the bipartisan nature that we all so very much covet."
Palin said, that Obama's performance regarding health care reform "really reflects a lack of experience."
"It's a bit over his head," said the former Wasilla mayor (population 5,400). "Things aren't going well."
Palin said that Obama's problem is that he doesn't have the experience to work across party lines.
Of course, while no Republicans in Congress voted for the Democrat's health care reform bill, one certainly can't argue that bipartisanship wasn't attempted. Many GOP ideas were incorporated into the bill. The bill was thoroughly watered down while Obama and the Democrats made feeble attempts to attract some moderate Republicans to vote for it.
Obama's lack of experience is not highlighted by his lack of effort to reach across the aisle, but rather his foolish belief that any Republicans would ever support health care reform.
But as far as Palin's critique of Obama's lack of experience, coming from someone who doesn't have more than a cursory knowledge of how government works, public policy or the legislative process - her opinion means nothing.
And as for Van Susteren's assertion that everyone wants bipartisan bills in Congress - that's simply not true. How many times did Vice President Dick Cheney provide the tie-breaking vote in the Senate when the GOP had a majority? And how many stories did Fox News run bemoaning the lack of bipartisan support for Bush's tax cuts?
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