"...SPIEGEL ONLINE: When the Democrats lost their crucial 60th Senate vote in January, US health care reform stalled in Congress. More Americans than ever are growing frustrated with the political process. Is Washington broken?

Norman Ornstein: Things are getting done in Congress, but the process is not pretty. Everything has become so much more partisan.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Wasn't that always the case?

Ornstein: I haven't seen anything like this in the past 40 years. To pick an example: The conflict over the Vietnam War was unbelievable. We had Democratic Senator George McGovern go on the floor and say: The walls of this chamber reek with blood. And his conservative colleague Bob Dole publicly ripped him apart for that. But there was a very large share of conservative Democrats supporting American involvement in Vietnam -- and the people who opposed the war included a large number of liberal Republicans. So the issue wasn't simply a partisan one. You had a lot of people in the center.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: What has happened to the center?

Ornstein: The culture has changed. In the US, you have the expansion of the "permanent campaign" which forces politicians to raise money all-year round. To make matters worse, when it ruled that corporations can now spend unlimited amounts of money on campaigning, the Supreme Court just made sure we will have the Wild West in the campaign system. Also, members of Congress don't spend much time in Washington. They don't bring their families here so they hardly socialize with their fellow members. We also don't have compulsory attendance at the polls -- so loyal voters matter more. And that encourages outlandish appeals to the base, scaring people that the other party is destroying the country.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: In addition, many districts have become extremely homogenous because of partisan gerrymandering to make them a safe bet for one party or another.

Ornstein: Members of Congress can go home now and they don't have to represent different kinds of people. When they are largely safe in general elections, the only thing that matters are the primaries where you are going to be challenged from the right as a Republican or from the left as a Democrat. So, playing to your base is encouraged -- not reaching out to other groups.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Has Obama underestimated how hard it would be to change Washington?

Ornstein: He knew such partisanship was there but believed he could overcome some of it. Not that he would get Republicans to vote for him in most cases -- but that, at least, he could tone down the rhetoric. It matters because if you do significant things to affect people's lives, they will be suspicious of the outcomes. If one side says that what is being implemented is going to destroy the country and its fabric, you are going to have a harder time making those changes work.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Could the President have done things differently in his first year?

Ornstein: It was a good idea to start out having Republicans over at the White House for drinks and conversation, even if it didn't have any immediate impact. That is something he should have continued doing -- just to show the American people that he was trying and that the other side did not react. He pretty much abandoned it for a while and now he has picked it up again. But let's face it: A year ago, you had a new president coming in with a clear public mandate and an economy the worst since the Great Depression -- yet, not a single Republican voted for the stimulus package. So there was not much Obama could build on. ... (Der Spiegel)