It’s enough to make you wonder if Bush did it right after all.

Every new administration says the right things about “building consensus” and “reaching across the aisle” to the opposition. Obama has said he wants to “turn the page” on the petty partisanship of the last decades. Unlike Bush, however, he’s actually done something about it by appointing Republicans to his cabinet, invited congressional Republicans to offer their ideas, and building tax breaks into his stimulus plan that Republicans wanted.

The result? The Republicans basically spit in his offered handshake. Zero Republicans supported his stimulus bill in the House, only three in the Senate. His Republican nominee for Commerce Secretary, Judd Gregg, turned him down too.

Now, Obama has taken the dramatic step of offering his hand to the Iranians in a precedent setting video. The result? First Iran’s President Ahmadinejad and then Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spit in his hand again.

It’s makes you wonder if Bush’s “you’re either for us or against us” approach has some merit after all.

But, after reflection, I think Obama should really listen to the advice of that other young President (a Republican, too), Teddy Roosevelt, “Speak softly, but carry a big stick.”

The idiot Bush was fond of justifying his actions by saying, “We live in a dangerous world.” That’s so very true. But that only means that communication and cooperation are just that much more important.

Obama has not given anything away. Far from it, he’s added 17,000 more soldiers in Afganistan. There are good things happening as a result of Obama’s much more thoughtful approach too and, especially after Bush, it’s easy to understand that confrontation and aggression might still be the only way others know how to play the game.

The Obama strategy is still the right one.