Bipartisanship
two Cabinet secretaries — both of whom have been subjects of Kennedy broadsides in the past — lauded the Democrats’ aging lion as the one indispensable player in the negotiating process. “He’s awesome,” gushed Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, as he left a news conference announcing the bipartisan agreement. “I’d say he was one of the critical leaders in putting together this deal.” Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez called it “a real privilege” to work with Kennedy…Kennedy’s demand that negotiators have a deal by 10 a.m., Gutierrez said, was the “stimulus” that got the deal done…
Kennedy — aware that an immigration pact would need to be finished by summer or it would collapse in the heat of campaign ing — moved quickly. He sat down with President Bush at the White House soon after the Democrats retook the Senate earlier this year, telling the president he thought the Democratic leadership could help salvage immigration legislation Bush had been trying to get for six years. Kennedy said he used other opportunities, such as the annual St. Patrick’s Day luncheon, to talk to the president about the issue. Some 10 weeks ago, Kennedy, Gutierrez, Chertoff, and about a dozen senators in both parties began a grueling series of negotiations…
Bipartisanship. Feel free to like it or dislike it as you please.