I declare that we Democrats accomplish more for the whole nation — even for our Republican friends — when we don’t try to be as uber-partisan as the Republican leadership of Congress has been the past 20 or so years. We accomplish more when we reach across the aisle to seek reasonable compromises, as evidenced by the clean water and clean air acts and amendments passed during the Nixon administration. We accomplish more when we face a problem and try to come up with legislation to solve it — without being self-righteous about it. Think of the political insights of John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. We accomplish more when we to do the right thing for the nation, as evidenced by passage of the civil rights laws. We accomplish more when our political leaders talk face-to-face more and talk less for the cameras or radio talk shows.
