Word: bipartisanism
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...when an issue is too sticky to deflect--the future of entitlement programs, for example--he calls for the creation of a bipartisan commission. A bipartisan commission! The man is a walking bipartisan commission! If that's not enough, he has the nerve to say that "one of the responsibilities of growing older...is being able to tell people something they may not want to hear just because it's the truth." Statements like this are what makes Clinton Clinton. He's pragmatic enough to tell people exactly what they want to hear and yet he has the audacity...
Which is why Clinton must move quickly to set the tone. "There is going to be a tension between getting bipartisan reform and fending off investigations," said Al From, who heads the Democratic Leadership Council, the centrist group Clinton helped found. "It's very important that Clinton move early to draw Republican and centrist Democrats in, work from the center out and build a broad coalition around reform. If he lets the thing deteriorate into partisanship, it will be a lot more bitter and a lot less productive...
...courage to do something about entitlements has been scarce. Lawmakers need the political cover of a bipartisan commission. To chair such a group, Clinton should look no further than his defeated rival. Bob Dole knows the problem better than most and has in the past demonstrated the guts to address it squarely. If a solution worthy of the word is adopted, then Clinton and Dole will both have won last week, and will both deserve history's kind verdict...
...governs by caucus, seeking Democratic votes to the exclusion of Republicans, Clinton will be forced repeatedly to sell his soul to the left in Congress. So the only way for Clinton to govern effectively, and to govern in the center, is to form a bipartisan government. He needs to reach out immediately to the Republicans and bring them to the White House. The President, a peacemaker abroad, must be one at home...
Next the President should convene a bipartisan negotiation for a budget deal. The Republicans will welcome the chance to "get well" after suffering for their stance on Medicare. That will make them sufficiently tractable to agree on a framework most moderate Democrats can support...