President Obama

President Obama and ‘Bipartisanship’

There's a difference between legislative bipartisanship and "disagreeing without being disagreeable." The latter, I think, is what the president has always talked about.

So out of curiosity, I went through some of the president's biggest speeches and was actually surprised to discover that the words "bipartisanship" or "bipartisan" don't appear in any of them.

His presumptive-nominee speech? No. His inaugural address? Nah. His DNC acceptance speech? Nope. His speech in Berlin? Nein. His Election Night victory speech? Nada. His Philadelphia "A More Perfect Union" speech? No way. His Iowa Caucus victory speech? Nuh-uh. His campaign announcement speech? Yes! Actually, no. Not even his 2004 DNC keynote address.

If the word "bipartisanship" appears in his vernacular at all, it could be a verbal shorthand for "disagreeing without being disagreeable." But for the most part, it sounds like "bipartisanship" has been more or less superimposed on the president.