I could not have said this better myself. Thanks to FireDogLake for this great post. If Obama continues to see post-partisanship as the goal, the end result will never be good. It is easy for Republicans to stop Obama if his goal is bi-partisanship or post-partisanship. And then Obama looks like a failure and the Republicans like competent defenders of the faith. After this, Obama better just press full speed ahead and run over any Republicans who get in his way. Either they will move, and survive, or get crushed.
There really is no changing the tone in Washington, at least not how Obama sees it. Bi-partisanship is an old tactic. Using it either as a goal or a tactic does not change the tone. The tone is set by success or failure. If you succeed, then more people will want to jump on your bandwagon. And the more that happens, the more real change you can make. Ultimately, and Obama, Emanuel, and the moderates in his inner circle need to understand that the change we need and seek is progressive reform, not elevating a political tactic to sacrosanct goal.