Where's the President Obama who promised to unite us?

(nydailynews).Before it gets lost in the mists of time, here's a fact worth recalling. Prior to President Obama's inauguration, his team had big dreams about the stimulus bill. As Politico.com reported early last month, "Obama aides have said they want to get 80 votes in the Senate to demonstrate bipartisan support and so that Democrats alone cannot be blamed for the breathtaking spending."

That's only six weeks old, but already it feels like ancient history. The hopes of our government uniting to face the staggering financial crisis have been dashed. Instead, we have a deepening mistrust that is so infuriating because it is so ordinary.

With only three Republicans supporting the $800 billion stimulus package, and with its 1,100 pages getting a final vote before they are read, the measure that was supposed to lift the nation has added to the sense of breakdown.

The solution is now part of the problem.

Obama deserves most of the blame. Because he's the President with a mandate and a congressional majority, Republicans would have had to go along - if the President had kept his word to change Washington.

But Obama isn't keeping his word. He is shutting out views that don't match his own, and is back on the campaign trail, as though giving a speech to adoring crowds liberates him from the burdens of the White House. After more than two years of campaigning to get there, one would think he would be ready to govern.

The evidence that he is instead choosing a partisan path and a permanent campaign lies most recently in Sen. Judd Gregg's abrupt withdrawal to be commerce secretary. The New Hampshire Republican's decision to join the administration was hailed as proof of Obama's sincere bipartisan outreach, so Gregg's withdrawal over his unease with Obama's policies must be seen as proof to the contrary.

This is no small moment in the making of an administration. The sense of disappointment in Obama is spreading, as are concerns about the consequences of a bait-and-switch presidency.

The global selloff in stock markets after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner put out a half-baked plan for fixing the financial system is a clear verdict. His arguing that investors missed the point is telling.

Once again, a White House has all the answers and everybody else is wrong. Obama, like his predecessor, doesn't lack for confidence, only for others who share it.

Of course, bipartisanship is no guarantee of good government. It is often just a big word for mutual gluttony, where both Republicans and Democrats lard up legislation with their pet projects.

Nonpartisanship is closer to what we need now. Better yet, simple competence, unencumbered by political posturing and obligations.