After the election of 2008 it took President Obama 18 months to invite Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell to meet with him.

After the elections of 2010 it took Obama less than 18 hours to call on Republicans to respond to their greater numbers by deciding to now work with him more closely.

Drop that intransigence, which intransigence in the instances where they had a say were what got them those increased numbers. Which instances were largely limited to voting on final passage of the schemes which were unilaterally drawn up and crammed down.

Just another example of the false narrative spooned out by the White House to a lapdog media — this one, Republicans wouldn’t work with him when … Obama, Pelosi et al., erm, shut them out of the process of developing the ‘stimulus’, health care, etc.

I’ve already had one call with a reporter who asked how the energy debate would proceed now that the Republicans were in charge. I gently reminded her how, when the Republicans controlled the House and Senate with a Democrat in the White House, the media narrative about all things befalling the economy was “with the Republicans in charge”; and when the Democrats controlled both houses of Congress and the Republicans, or at least one Republican, had the White House, the media narrative about all things befalling the economy was “with the Republicans in charge”.

It seems the media need a foil as badly as does the Obama White House. Heck, even when the Democrats had controlled Congress for four years and the White House for two, the extant discussions were framed by blaming Bush.

It’s only just more absurd in the present case. But also among the most likely, predictable developments in coming months.