I heard an address by President elect Obama on the radio pertaining to his economic plan. He said, “This is not a Democrat problem or a Republican problem; it is an American problem.”

Compare this to Pelosi’s claim that this was all George Bush’s fault when the crisis was first hitting the airwaves. Perhaps a cynic would contend that this is just Obama positioning for Republican support for his bill. Even if this was true and it likely is to a point; isn’t this a smarter way to achieve that goal than using the crisis to score political points as Pelosi did?

The optimist in me wants to believe that maybe Obama is different and that he can rise above the vicious partisanship of the past.

Recent history has shown economically responsible actions from both parties and well intentioned failures as well. We got tax cuts from Kennedy and Reagan, tax increases from George H Bush and Bill Clinton. We got inflation from Johnson and kept it under control under Clinton.

Neither party has any copyright on good ideas.

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