David Brooks is indeed dreaming in his column this morning, especially when he writes:

The Obama administration of my dreams will insist that Congressional Democrats reinstate bipartisan conference committees.

Brooks might as well hope the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy get plum ambassadorships in the new administration. It ain't going to happen.

Sharing power is not in the DNA of either party, and after Tuesday's vote Democrats will be even less inclined to make any concessions to Republicans as they gear up to press ahead with a legislative agenda they believe was just mandated by voters.

Furthermore, Obama's choice of Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff is a clear sign that the administration will be playing for keeps. As Ben Smith and John Harris write this morning:

If his [Obama's] goal had been to create a cordial bipartisan tone in Washington — much less a calm, profanity-free West Wing — Obama would have looked elsewhere.

The selection of Emanuel, one of the Democratic Party's most effective operatives over the past two decades, was a powerful signal of Obama's determination to be effective under the existing rules of the Washington game.

“He's from the Lombardi wing of the party — he's a guy who wants to win at any cost and will do whatever it takes,” said John Lapp, a former top Emanuel aide at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

This "win at any cost" mentality is shared by the activist left of the Democratic party that helped Obama win the nomination and, ultimately, the presidency.  Despite Obama's proclamations of a post-partisan approach to politics, the rules of the game haven't magically changed over night, and the early indications are that Obama plans to play by the current rules, and play to win.

To paraphrase the new Vice-President elect, Republicans in Congress - not to mention those in the pundit class like Brooks - had better gird their loins.