Dear Mr. President:
What is the best strategy for the fall congressional campaign?
I urge you to reject the conventional-wisdom advice to wage a partisan campaign, attacking the "just say no" Republicans and blaming many of our problems on the prior administration.
Rather, I urge you to return to your roots -- to the theme that led my own oldest son to support your candidacy way before you announced it.
You articulated that theme in your 2004 Democratic National Convention keynote speech:
The pundits like to slice and dice our country into red states and blue states... But I've got news for them, too. We worship an 'awesome God' in the blue states and we don't like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the red states. We coach Little League in the blue states and yes, we've got some gay friends in the red states... We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.
Then, just four years and six months later, you said in your inaugural address:
"On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for too long have strangled our politics."
Especially, I urge you to re-read the comment made by the 1968 Republican president-elect, Richard M. Nixon, one day after his election:
I saw many signs in this campaign. Some of them were not friendly. But the one that touched me the most was -- a teenager held that sign -- 'Bring Us Together.' And that will be the great objective of this administration at the outset, to bring American people together.
Unfortunately, it wasn't long after uttering them that Nixon defaulted to his partisan instincts and advisers and ignored these words.
I have been actively involved in politics since that year of 1968 -- a year when I couldn't imagine America ever being divided more bitterly between left and right. Yet I have never seen a higher level of partisanship, bitterness and vitriol between the two parties in Washington than that which exists today.
Last year a conservative Republican and evangelical Christian, Ronald DeMoss, approached me, a liberal Democrat, to join him in "the Civility Project." A couple months ago, we sent out personally addressed letters to 535 members of Congress and 50 governors asking all of them to sign a civility pledge -- found at www.civilityproject.org -- asking nothing more than to vow to engage in respectful debate.
As of a few weeks or so ago, only one member had signed: Rep. Frank Wolf (R) of Northern Virginia.
Mr. President: I think you can prove that most of the American people want their politicians to sign this pledge by signing it yourself and challenging all Democratic and Republican candidates to do likewise. You can and should embrace the words of Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) this past Sunday on CNN: "If we keep yelling at each other... we will go nowhere together."
Your campaign slogan should be: "It's time to get back into the solutions business."
And to do so, you should invite to the White House, immediately after Labor Day, center-left and center-right members of Congress committed to finding consensus solutions on three issues: jobs, energy independence and immigration reform.
You should invite thoughtful conservative Republicans who have a history of working with Democrats to find solutions, such as Sens. Graham (who I don't believe really will want to amend the 14th Amendment to bar citizenship of children of illegal aliens); John McCain (Ariz.), Orrin Hatch (Utah) and Lamar Alexander (Tenn.); and such House Republicans as Wolf, Mike Castle (Del.), Chris Smith (N.J.) and Connie Mack (Fla.).
You can find good conservative ideas and good liberal ideas, both progressive and pro-business and pro-market, which would bring centrist first steps to these three crucial problems, with a chance to pass legislation in all three areas before November.
Yes, you can.
If you do, I believe it is both the right politics and, most of all, right for the country.
This piece appeared on Aug. 5 in Mr. Davis' regular weekly column in The Hill, "Purple Nation," and "The Daily Caller" an online political website.
Mr. Davis is the founder of the Washington D.C. law firm, Lanny J. Davis & Associates, which specializes in litigation, legal crisis management, and legislative and public policy strategies. He served as Special Counsel to President Clinton in 1996-98 and as a member of President Bush's Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. He is the author of "Scandal: How 'Gotcha' Politics Is Destroying America" (Palgrave MacMillan, 2006).
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He always goes to the GOP money, like a moth to the flame.â€
"Your campaign slogan should be: "It's time to get back into the solutions business." "
Sounds good. But as an engineer I can tell you that it tends to be very difficult to come up with efficient solutions when there's bitter disagreement as to what the problem is. As long as the GOP is unwilling to admit that their economic policies played a large role in making this mess, how can they be effective partners in solving it?
Lanny, have you forgotten that elected Republicans and Republican candidates have called for armed insurrection against this president?
You seem to live in a unicorns and tulips world.
By blaming the failed stimulus, the sky-high unemployment, the disaster in the Gulf, the atrocious healthcare "reform" bill, the failure to close Gitmo, the failure to cut federal spending, the failure to end Iran's nuclear program, (etc.) on GWB and the GOP, it will confirm for the voters that Obama is totally incompetent and unwilling to accept any responsibility for the failure of his own policies, and that he still doesn't have a clue on how to be a leader. A strategy like that won't just help the GOP at the polls this November, but it will also ensure that Obama is voted out in 2012 and that our nation can start fixing the damage caused by such a rank, unqualified amateur.
So, stay the course, Democrats! Blame the GOP and GWB for EVERYTHING and take responsibility for NOTHING. American voters love that!
He always goes to the GOP money, like a moth to the flame.
A call back to the Bush era fiscal policy, and an extension of tax cuts for the wealthy, while fighting against the interests of Americans hurt the most by the lack of oversight that caused the collapse.
How can you explain the GOP math that cutting tax revenue increases tax revenue, and that America cannot afford to add $40 billion to the deficit to help unemployed Americans, but can in fact afford to add $3.2 trillion to that deficit to keep the tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% of Americans from expiring?
The stimulus was too small in order to appease Republicans that did not vote for it, and the unemployment was caused by corporations that joined the bandwagon to increase profits! Exploiting the diminished work force, working them harder and longer for less pay and fewer benefits.
Blame the GOP and GW for their part in causing this mess, and blame Senate Republicans for actively fighting against recovery for perceived political gain........
Lanny Davis is a liberal Democrat? I’m shocked, shocked I tell you.
Obama should listen to him, for look what he did for Hillary!
Repubs bankrupted the nation pursuing Dubya's agenda, and they will destroy this country before they lift a finger to help Obama fix the damage they wrought!
If so, they are apparently doing a better job of it than he is doing defending himself. His popularity is dropping like a stone, and even at that I think he's still benefiting from the fact that people over-report their approval of minority politicians because they don't want the pollster (rightly or wrongly) to consider them racist.
How much more moderate do you want Obama to be? He's offered concession after concession to Republicans as did Harry Reid on every piece of legislation and they would not even attempt to even TRY to form a compromise. They literally just sat there and criticized without lifting a finger. They said at the beginning that they wanted this President to fail and they've kept their word by obstructing and vilifying every step of the way. Their party is the only party that has a right to govern in this country in their minds and no amount of kissing up to them is going to change that.
Consider this. The President has literally endorsed bills sponsored by Republicans and then they backed off supporting their OWN BILLS afterward.
Personally I believe there is NO merit at this time in working towards "bipartisan solutions". "Compromising" with someone who wants to slit your throat is worse than foolish.
Obama has repeatedly reached his hand across the aisle and had it figuratively spit on!
Why, inconsistency.
Case in point. When Helen Thomas, a columnist said what she said, you called for her to be fired.
Geller, who currently opposes the Centre to be built two blocks from the WTC, this woman has said despicable things about Muslims and the president, silence from you. Please Google you can find her rants.
Then you asked during the Helen Thomas disgraceful words, had she said African Americans to be sent back to Africa, that many would have found that objectionable.
African Americans were in the 1860s told to go back to Africa. Many were sent there forcibly. You have heard of Freetown, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and the Caribbeans? Many African Americans were sent there. As a litigator, you have heard of the 14th amendment, that was part of the stoppage, and recognizing African Americans as citizens...
I don't appreciate what many do these days, using African American plight to further their agenda.
Wrong is wrong. Knowing our history is respecting one another and truthfully informing the public.
Now you want Pres Obama to get us together but as always nicely, negating that GOPers before Mr. Obama was sworn in had said NO was their strategy. Pres Obama with all his faults have tried to accommodate GOPers, at every corner, NO has been the answer.
I would have agreed with you had you tried and showed the obstructionism by the GOPers, at unprecedented level, while USA suffers economically.