Obama, Bloomberg, and the press get drunk on compromise, cooperation, and civility

Jack Shafer writes:

Everybody enjoys an occasional vacation from reason. An evening at the movies after a hard day’s work, a dream-filled nap on those afternoons when life seems too much, or a fat blunt when you’re grouchy at your boss all fill the bill.

Political reporters once relied on the hotel bar for their brief mental holidays, but this campaign season they’re getting smashed on bipartisanship. Barack Obama, who wants to staff his cabinet with Republicans, unbolt gridlock, and unite us all, brews the highest-proof stuff. Even though George W. Bush ran as a "uniter, not a divider" eight years ago, and Bill Clinton preached about the enlightened compromise of the third way 16 years ago, the press can’t detect Obama’s platitudes. Some in the press corps find Obama so blissfully nonpartisan that he’s postpartisan.

And it’s not just Obama working this scam. Everybody’s favorite billionaire mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg, joined a slew of out-of-work U.S. senators, former members of the House, and ex-governors in Norman, Okla., yesterday for a "Bipartisan Forum" to polite press in the Washington Post, the Associated Press, the Dallas Morning News, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and elsewhere. The session’s closing statement by former Senator and host David Boren served a chewy dough of high aims and happy talk. "You must ask the candidates if they plan to create a bipartisan cabinet and administration," said Boren in the closing statement. "We must ask the candidates to present a strategy for a unified consensus."