Bush and Democrats Just Can't Agree on How to Be Bipartisan

There's more evidence that any new era of bipartisanship in Washington may be rather short-lived.

In unveiling his new plan for increasing the number of troops in Iraq two weeks ago, President Bush proposed the establishment of a special bipartisan panel to advise him on waging the "war on terror."

"This group will meet regularly with me and my administration; it will help strengthen our relationship with Congress," Bush told the nation, mentioning a plan to increase the size of the military as a possible first order of business.

But it does not appear that congressional Democrats are too interested in the idea.

"We believe that Congress already has bipartisan structures in place, like the committee system and other Congressional working groups such as the Senate's National Security Working Group, that could produce the result you described in your speech," said a Jan. 19 letter to Bush from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.). "We look forward to working with you within these existing structures."

The brushoff did not appear to deter the president, who mentioned the idea again in his State of the Union address Wednesday night. "We will share ideas for how to position America to meet every challenge that confronts us," Bush said. "We'll show our enemies abroad that we are united in the goal of victory."

White House aides said yesterday that they are still hoping to form the panel, although exactly how it might get off the ground without the support of Pelosi and Reid was a mystery. They suggested there was quiet outreach to other lawmakers about creating the advisory group, though they declined to identify whom they were reaching out to.

The existence of the letter was disclosed yesterday by columnist Robert D. Novak, who speculated that Democrats may not like the idea of working on such a panel with Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, the Democrat-turned-independent. It was Lieberman, along with Maine Republican Susan Collins, who first suggested the panel, as Bush had noted.

There was other speculation on the Hill, including the proposition that Democrats are not particularly interested in bipartisanship or in identifying themselves too closely with the unpopular war in Iraq. Jim Manley, Reid's spokesman, offered another explanation: Democrats don't believe that Bush himself is particularly interested in bipartisan advice.

Pointing to the lukewarm White House reception to the bipartisan advice offered up by the Baker-Hamilton commission on Iraq, Manley said Reid believes that "the problem isn't that the president is getting too much information -- the problem is he is not listening to what he is being told."