The Obama administration has consistently made good on President Obama’s campaign promise to govern as a post-partisan and look to bring Republicans into the governing process. Multiple Republicans were nominated to cabinet posts. And despite fears to the contrary by Republicans and Beltway journalists, the administration has refused to pursue any policy course that could possibly be described as “vindictive” following eight years of Republican failure and lawbreaking.

But how has the administration been repaid for their magnanimity? Well as anyone who has paid attention to the Republican Party over the last forty years (and especially the last sixteen) would expect, the Republicans have remained committed to partisan obstructionism for the sake of politics. No matter how far President Obama has gone to bring Republicans along on the path of rebuilding this country, their response has not changed. They opposed the stimulus effectively unanimously. They opposed national service. They opposed making banks accountable to government oversight. Every where we look, we see partisan Republican obstructionism (though liberal Democrats seem far more likely to be called out for partisan behavior).

The latest example is found in Kansas Senator Sam Brownback. Brownback had come out strongly in favor of the nomination of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius for Secretary of Health and Human Services. In fact, his endorsement initially augured a swift confirmation for Sebelius. Now, months later, Sebelius languishes awaiting confirmation and Brownback is making noises about opposing her.

This is a joke, played out on repeat, because it’s the only joke the Republican Party knows how to tell. It’s as if a political party was created around the premise of bad faith in all their business.

Hopefully the administration and Democratic leaders in Congress are cognizant of what is happening. The press certainly isn’t in an uproar over Republican obstructionism of the popular president’s election-mandated agenda, so it will require an iota of scrutiny for the Democrats to see what’s going on on their own. As much as it might be comforting to treat their political opponents as good faith agents to be worked with for the betterment of the country in a way that was entirely absent the previous eight years, Republicans do not operate in good faith. Policy efforts aiming to achieve their goals with the help of mythical good faith Republicans are sadly doomed to failure. It’s time to reevaluate, sharpen our collective elbows, and start muscling through the agenda President Obama was elected to implement.