With a New Year comes the promise of a fresh start. With every new Congress comes new opportunity. Even when that Congress is controlled by liberal Democrats who are determined to thwart a lame duck Republican president every chance they get, there is at least the outside chance that some good can be accomplished.

Earlier this week in The Wall Street Journal, the president had a message for the incoming Congress:

"To the new members of the 110th Congress, I offer my welcome--and my congratulations. The American people have entrusted us with public office at a momentous time for our nation. Let them say of these next two years: We used our time well."

President Bush has extended the hand of bipartisanship to Democrats in the past, particularly when he first took office. The result of that outreach can be seen in the No Child Left Behind legislation, which was allowed to be influenced heavily by Sen. Ted Kennedy and in the funding for the Department of Education, which was greatly increased. In return for that outreach and compromise did President Bush receive rave reviews from Democrats? Hardly.

In fact, some of those President Bush will be working with in the new Congress have gone far beyond criticism of his policies. Some of those members the president so graciously welcomes this week have in the past bitten his extended hand.

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said of Bush, "The man's father is a wonderful human being. I think this guy is a loser."

Nancy Pelosi, the incoming speaker of the House, once said of Bush that he was, "Oblivious. In denial. Dangerous." Recent words from Pelosi regarding her position leading the incoming Democratic Congress don't exactly give me the utmost confidence that Democrats are eager to do much compromising. Pelosi referred to herself as "the most powerful woman in America" and even flexed her right muscle like a weight lifter and yelled, "All right, let's hear it for the power." Continued...