Jonathan Chait: The Myth of Divided Government
[Jonathan Chait is a senior editor at The New Republic.]
No sooner had Republicans swept into power, promising to repeal President Obama’s major initiatives and make his defeat their top priority, than a bevy of pundits declared that this was all just a prelude to a new era of moderation and compromise. What will bring about this outbreak of bipartisanship? Simple: divided government. All you need to do is give each party some stake in the success of government, and watch the cooperation blossom.
It would be nice if both parties had a stake in success. But they don’t. Political science studies—one by political scientist Helmut Norpoth, and another by Richard Nadeau and Michael Lewis-Beck—have found that voters hold the president alone responsible for the condition of the country.
Think back to the disastrous last two years of the Bush administration. Did voters lay part of the blame on Democrats who controlled the House? Of course not. When the country appeared to be going down the toilet after Democrats won the House in 2006, voters gave them even more seats in 2008. Even when controlling Congress, the party opposing the president has a stake in failure....
Read entire article at The New Republic
No sooner had Republicans swept into power, promising to repeal President Obama’s major initiatives and make his defeat their top priority, than a bevy of pundits declared that this was all just a prelude to a new era of moderation and compromise. What will bring about this outbreak of bipartisanship? Simple: divided government. All you need to do is give each party some stake in the success of government, and watch the cooperation blossom.
It would be nice if both parties had a stake in success. But they don’t. Political science studies—one by political scientist Helmut Norpoth, and another by Richard Nadeau and Michael Lewis-Beck—have found that voters hold the president alone responsible for the condition of the country.
Think back to the disastrous last two years of the Bush administration. Did voters lay part of the blame on Democrats who controlled the House? Of course not. When the country appeared to be going down the toilet after Democrats won the House in 2006, voters gave them even more seats in 2008. Even when controlling Congress, the party opposing the president has a stake in failure....