Must Read: Broder On A Unity Govt.
The Washington Post's David Broder reports today ...
Bipartisan Group Eyes Independent Bid
First, Main Candidates Urged To Plan 'Unity' Government
New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a potential independent candidate for president, has scheduled a meeting next week with a dozen leading Democrats and Republicans, who will join him in challenging the major-party contenders to spell out their plans for forming a "government of national unity" to end the gridlock in Washington.
Those who will be at the Jan. 7 session at the University of Oklahoma say that if the likely nominees of the two parties do not pledge to "go beyond tokenism" in building an administration that seeks national consensus, they will be prepared to back Bloomberg or someone else in a third-party campaign for president.
Conveners of the meeting include such prominent Democrats as former senators Sam Nunn (Ga.), Charles S. Robb (Va.) and David L. Boren (Okla.), and former presidential candidate Gary Hart. Republican organizers include Sen. Chuck Hagel (Neb.), former party chairman Bill Brock, former senator John Danforth (Mo.) and former New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman.
Serious people with serious credentials are saying enough to the partisanship polarizing Washington and dominating campaign discourse. For the full article, read here.
(JENNIFER SKALKA)
I think people are fed up with politics as usual. We are mired in a sea of political infighting and backbiting that leaves little time or energy left to getting on with the country's business. Young, old, middle aged, people are tired of the direction this country is taking. We hear complaints about inaction on the part of the Iraqis. We should look to the quagmire we call American politics before criticizing others. There is no doubt that America needs a new direction; one that leads us back to the road established by our Founding Fathers and the precepts of the Constitution.