As we creep closer to the November elections, we need leadership, specifically in four areas:
- Iraq and Iran: Develop a comprehensive strategy that demonstrates both prudence and strength.
- Energy: Show us you really do want to break our addiction to oil and how you plan to do it.
- Immigration: Secure the borders, keep our economy growing, and provide a vehicle for citizenship.
- Spending: Stop passing so many earmarks and pick one major entitlement program you want to introduce for reform.
A bold agenda needs to be crafted as a team effort between the White House, Republican leadership on Capitol Hill, and, in the case of immigration, with key governors from the border states.
Right now there’s not much teamwork. However, it looks like the White House is getting the picture that they must reach out more to other leaders if they want to really craft solutions that will be acceptable for multiple stakeholders. Break down the barriers, work together as a team, and cast a bold vision that the majority of Americans can rally behind.
I for one, have been critical of the president on budgetary issues in a book called Getting America Right, but the time for criticism has passed. Now is the time for the home team to rally and get behind our leaders – if they will work together to really give us something to cheer about. Again, the president laid out a challenge for Congress in his speech on Monday night. I for one don’t agree with everything, but I do think he is moving in the right direction.
So I offer my encouragement to President Bush, Bill Frist, and Denny Hastert. I urge you all to be bold, wise and courageous in the defense of our security and freedom. Break down the barriers between the White House and the Congress. Work together. And I remind you that history rewards courage and foresight but scorns a failure of nerve.