Just days after another nasty, divisive political campaign provoked a historic shift in power in Washington, the odd couple of national politics uttered some wise words.
If heeded in the halls of Congress and at the White House, their advice could go a long way toward reconciling the bitter politics that have infected Washington.
“Give (cooperation) a chance to break through the gridlock and animosity, to work together,” former President Clinton said to a convention of Realtors in New Orleans.
Sharing the stage with the 42nd president was the 41st, George H.W. Bush.
“You can compromise to get some things done,” Bush said – noting that he faced a Democratic Congress his entire term.
After huge Democratic losses just two years into his term, Clinton had to deal with a Republican Congress for his final six years. After 1994, he no longer worried about appeasing his party’s liberal base. He didn’t have the luxury.
As Time magazine put it last week, he “sailed into the enforced moderation of divided government.”
The elder Bush advised Congress – and we’ll include his son, the president, in the equation – to follow his lead (and Clinton’s lead) in putting political differences aside for the common good. The two former presidents have worked together to raise money first for tsunami relief and now for Hurricane Katrina relief.
Both men said some of the best legislation to emerge from their presidencies was a result of compromise.
“Let’s hope out of the recent elections there are going to be people wanting to come together and mean it. And that means you can’t get it your own way all the time, whatever side,” the elder Bush later told Fox News.
“‘Compromise’ is not a dirty word. It shouldn’t be.”
With a divided government and grave issues that need to be addressed, compromise is an essential pathway.
