Post-partisanship for BOTH sides of the aisle

I've been critical of many on the right for not "getting" the reality that President-elect Obama is going to govern in a "post partisan" way. That the American public has gotten tired of--and moved beyond--the gotcha' governing and politics of the past decade.

But my colleagues on the left need to learn the same lesson.

Barney Frank this week was criticizing Obama for the Rick Warren choice--with the argument that it won't win Obama any point with "the right.

"But my one question is, I think he overestimates his ability to take people, particularly our colleagues on the right, and, sort of, charm them into being nice," Frank said. "I know he talks about being post-partisan. But I've worked, frankly, with Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay, the current Republican leadership. The current Republican leadership in the House repudiated George Bush. I don't know why Mr. Obama thinks he's going to have them better than George Bush.

"And so, to be honest, when he talks about being post-partisan, having seen these people and knowing what they would do in that situation, I suffer from post-partisan depression," Frank said jokingly.(The Hill)

But Obama didn't ask Warren to the inaugural to win points with the right. He did it because Warren is a popular and powerful religious leader with strong Christian beliefs who has taken his preaching into practice.

He didn't do it to gain stature with the right, he did it because it was right.