On Being Partisan: PAUL KRUGMAN

THE COMPLETE ARTICLE
The New York Times
OP-ED COLUMNIST

On Being Partisan

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Published: January 26, 2007

History says that we’ll see a return to bipartisanship only if and when economic polarization is reversed.

American politics is ugly these days, and many people wish things were different. For example, Barack Obama recently lamented the fact that “politics has become so bitter and partisan” — which it certainly has.

But he then went on to say that partisanship is why “we can’t tackle the big problems that demand solutions. And that’s what we have to change first.” Um, no. If history is any guide, what we need are political leaders willing to tackle the big problems despite bitter partisan opposition. If all goes well, we’ll eventually have a new era of bipartisanship — but that will be the end of the story, not the beginning.

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