‘Partisan Seeks A Prefix: Bi- Or Post-

nytimes.com — Six weeks before taking office, President-elect Barack Obama can already boast one striking accomplishment: persuading partisan, ideological adversaries to see him in a less partisan, less ideological light.

The reappraisal runs deeper than Mr. Obama's photo-op pleasantries with Senator John McCain. Derided during the campaign as a purveyor of ''socialism'' who was guilty of ''palling around with terrorists,'' he has since won praise from conservatives for retaining Robert Gates as defense secretary, for naming Gen. James L. Jones as his national security adviser and for selecting the moderate Timothy F. Geithner, who helped draw up the Bush administration's Wall Street bailout plan, as his Treasury secretary.