The Senate’s Most Bipartisan Votes of the Year

At the very least, these are the most high-profile, bipartisan votes of the year in the Senate:

1. Justice Sotomayor’s confirmation, for which nine GOP Senators voted yes

2. Expanded funding of “cash for clunkers,” for which seven GOP Senators voted yes

(Accenting the bipartisanship of the latter vote, Missouri’s two Senators split, but not as you might expect: Republican Bond voted “yes,” and Democrat McCaskill voted “no.” You gotta love Missouri; if any state is bipolar, we are. Of course, that’s not always a bad trait. In fact, in this case, I applaud Sens. McCaskill and Bond for apparently voting their consciences rather than the party lines.)

Before entering the nation’s highest office, President Obama might have hoped bipartisanship would mean that a third or more of Republicans would support him a third or more of the time. Then, of course, hope met reality: The stimulus bill vote quickly forced a redefining of bipartisanship to mean a mere three GOP Senators, one of whom is now a Democrat.

Doubling and tripling that mark on these more recent votes, I have to believe some folks in the White House are hungover from last night’s celebration.