Home »  Writings »  No Time for Bipartisanship  By Hadley Arkes
Posted November 12, 2002  Print This  Then the helicopters
lifted off the roof of the American embassy in Saigon in 1975,
Gerry Ford, reputed to be president at the time, went on
national television to reassure the public, insisting that this
was no time for "recriminations." To which a friend of mine
replied: "This is exactly the time for recriminations!" The deep
significance of the Republican victory on Tuesday has barely
been appreciated in the land: This was the 50th anniversary of
Eisenhower's first landslide, which was the last time that the
Republicans had control of the White House, the Senate, and the
House at the same time. I was twelve years old. It was not until
Ronald Reagan's first election that the Republicans won the
Senate again. But now, on the morning after this breakthrough,
long awaited, Marc Racicot, the chairman of the Republican
National Committee, appeared at the National Press Club with his
opposite number, Terry McAul