Sullivan Swooning

Andrew Sullivan is very happy with Obama's performance in Tucson, and especially the fact that conservatives seemed to like it as much or even more than moderates or liberals:

The [National Review] Corner had few reactions to last night's speech but all of them were effusively positive. Fox's pundits seemed more impressed than CNN's. At some point, conservatives will realize that Obama is the liberal they can talk to. Maybe this horrible week can lead to an actual dialogue between Obama and the GOP that could, I don't know, actually address our national problems with solutions both sides can compromise on.

Yeah, I know I'm getting carried away ...

Oh great...Obama and Republicans getting together to compromise on solutions. I wonder who will win that deal?  I wish I could be more optimistic about the new 'good feeling' in the country, the new unity being felt.  I feel like a misanthrope because I don't really share it.

But tell me, how will this unity work itself out in national policy?  That's really what matters to me.  Are the Republicans going to change their stripes and their policy because they've 'seen the light'?  Please, give me a break.  Now that they've got the House, they would love the Democrats and progressives to play 'nicey-nicey' and go along with them.  Now that the campaign, with all its vitriol, is over for a few months, they benefit from all this good feeling.  Obama may as well, in his own way, especially if he plays the Republican's game.  But I don't think the nation does.  I lost any optimism I had in that regard about 18 months ago.

I don't think this good feeling in the land is going to last through the first real challenge to Obamacare, Obama's main historical legacy.  We'll see how contentious the rhetoric is then.