Common Sense Nation

The New York Times ran a probing piece yesterday regarding Barack Obama’s post-election posture.  His demeanor, words and, especially, his cabinet picks indicate that he is raising a white flag to partisan warring or perhaps it’s a Red, White and Blue flag–I’m squinting to see.  Noting that many conservatives, including master-of-disaster Karl Rove, are “assured” by certain Obama cab picks, the Times observes:

All this raises the question: can Mr. Obama indeed be forging the new style of politics he invoked so often during the election — one that transcends the partisan divisions that have marked recent administrations? If so, what will he replace it with, a bipartisan style of governance that splits the differences between competing ideological camps, or a “post-partisan” politics that narrows gaps between red and blue or even renders them irrelevant?

Actually, insiders in Mr. Obama’s emerging team foresee a third option: a series of left-leaning programs that draw on Americans’ desire for action and also on Mr. Obama’s moderate, even conservative, temperament, to hurdle the ideological obstacles that have lately paralyzed Washington.

I like this formulation.  Heading into the 111th Congress and the Obama presidency, we cannot forget that this election was a near-landslide and, in any event, represents a realignment of this country not toward the left but toward common sense.

There is also the boost Mr. Obama has received from the Republicans’ disarray. “I don’t think there is such a thing as post-partisan or post-ideological politics, but there is such a thing as one side being so shell-shocked and/or incompetent that it is incapable of presenting an alternative vision,” said Dan Mitchell, a conservative economic analyst at the Cato Institute.

We need to take full advantage of the shift in public opinion.  The center right nation has exited stage left and what remains need not be a center left nation or a left nation or a liberal nation, whatever.  What we need is a common sense nation, which is, I believe, what Obama is reaching for.

The problem is that Washington has strayed far afield from the realm of common sense in recent years.  It will take time, strength and energy to reel the old boys back in.  It will also take a fight or two.