Former President Bill Clinton was right on the mark in his call for bipartisanship as part of his speech at the Democratic convention earlier this month, says former New Hampshire GOP Sen. Judd Gregg.
“Although he certainly did not speak for the majority of the Democrats at their recent national convention, the former president made the most important and needed observations of any of the speechmakers in Charlotte,” Gregg wrote in
The Hill.
“He pointed out that our problems as a nation are so deep and complex that neither party has the wherewithal to solve them, or for that matter even effectively address them on their own.”
Those issues include entitlements and healthcare, Gregg says. “Because they affect everyone in this nation in a very personal way, it is impossible for one party to impose solutions that are unilateral and dogmatic.”
The albatross of Obamacare showed the flaws of one party imposing its views on the other, Gregg maintains. “People simply will not accept having big issues that affect them done in an excessively partisan way. They simply do not trust that partisan decisions represent a balanced approach, where everyone’s concerns get some degree of reasonable input.”
Presidents who have been successful are those like Clinton and Ronald Reagan, who governed in a bipartisan style, Gregg writes. “These presidents understood that governing under the American system meant inclusion, not exclusion, and that to get something done one needs to be able to work with others, even those in the other party.”
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