Actually, ratbastid, it's not as unusual as you might think. I could give you examples, starting with McCain-Feingold, but there's also stuff where, say, Hatch and Kennedy (who are good friends) worked together. It's not that unusual to go issue by issue to build coalitions. That's how stuff gets done. The stark partisan splits tend to be on "hot button" high-visibility questions, and I really doubt that will change. So I do dispute that Obama's politics is a new phenomenon - he is just extremely good at articulating his vision, and he does it in an appealing way. Look, can we agree he is an extremely talented and attractive politician? I just don't think he is much more than that.
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