Matthew Dowd, a moderate Republican strategist who was an adviser to President George W. Bush, said that increasing cooperation between the two parties was possible, but difficult given the institutional constraints of the system and Mr. Obama’s role as the leading campaigner for House, Senate and governor’s races.
“It’s going to take the president deciding to be the head of the country, not the head of his party,” Mr. Dowd said. “It takes a serious amount of discipline and courage to do it.”
Dowd makes a good point. If the President sincerely wants a post-partisan America, he’s going to have to lead by example, with bold action, not just words.
In this case — walking out the line of Dowd’s thought — the bold action might involve no more Presidential campaigning for Democratic candidates, no matter how much Martha-Coakley trouble they’re in; no matter how much their respective defeats would affect the Democrats’ majority in Congress.
Alternatively, the President might consider this option: He could still campaign for Democrats, but for each Democratic candidate he stands with, side-by-side, he does the same for a Republican candidate.
Just imagine the terror in Republican candidates’ hearts if they learned this President was planning to campaign for them.
No, none of this will happen, but it’s still a helluva lot of fun to think about.