Cheney is not a man looking to score a cheap partisan shot. This is a devoted public servant who saw the smoke from the Pentagon on 9/11. When he voices concern, it's not that he's hoping for an attack, or aiming to intimidate a rookie president and his team -- he's genuinely worried about his country. Obama might consider that the Republican politicians who disagree with his grand plans feel the same way.
Americans are looking for leadership. And leadership does not consist of chucking principle after every election cycle. Obama and the Dems need to understand that, though they now govern in the majority, they are not the only party in town, and that the opposing party represents real people with viable viewpoints, as well. The new administration must consider the principled criticisms of its Republican opponents instead of unleashing polarizing rhetoric.
This will be especially important when it comes to the extremely controversial economic stimulus plan, another radical reworking of the free-market system that could change this country for generations. But pass it must, the president has proclaimed. "No plan is perfect, and we should work to make it stronger... But let's not make the perfect the enemy of the essential." House and Senate Republicans, and the folks they represent, are not the nation's "enemies"; they are simply citizens with very reasonable, solid objections to many of the plan's provisions, and America cannot afford to have the Democratic claque dismiss them out of hand. For a change, Obama must stop demonizing his opponents. A wise president would rush to do it.
Kathryn Lopez
Kathryn Jean Lopez, editor of National Review Online, writes a weekly column of conservative political and social commentary for Newspaper Enterprise Association.
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