“Bipartisan”?
The Wichita Eagle’s staff ask “Could private savings accounts be a bipartisan reform?” I cannot identify the bipartisanship in their text, though:
I was surprised when President Bush said last week that Social Security reform was one area on which he hoped to reach an agreement with the new Congress. … But Sen. Jeff Sessions, R‑Ala., also promoted private savings accounts as a bipartisan solution in a Washington Post op-ed piece this week.
Just saying that it’s bipartisan does not make it so. Two Republicans are pushing this, that is not bipartisan. Even if Joe Lieberman and a couple of House Dems jump on that bandwagon, it still won’t be bipartisan.
For too long, having a figleaf supporter from across the aisle was enough to make a bill bipartisan. Hopefully a new understanding will emerge in which “bipartisan” comes to mean that a bill actually has broad support from both parties.
