ON WEDNESDAY, President George Bush took to the conservative-friendly editorial page of the Wall Street Journal to welcome and warn the new Congress. His central message was that he expects the Democrats to give him what he wants — in some cases, more than he has gotten from the Republican Congress over the past six years:
Our Founders believed in the wisdom of the American people to choose their leaders and provided for the concept of divided and effective government. The majority party in Congress gets to pass the bills it wants. The minority party, especially where the margins are close, has a strong say in the form bills take. And the Constitution leaves it to the president to use his judgment whether they should be signed into law.
That gives us a clear challenge and an opportunity. If the Congress chooses to pass bills that are simply political statements, they will have chosen stalemate. If a different approach is taken, the next two years can be fruitful ones for our nation. We can show the American people that Republicans and Democrats can come together to find ways to help make America a more secure, prosperous and hopeful society. …
On Thursday, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the new Speaker of the House, replied in kind:
The election of 2006 was a call to change — not merely to change the control of Congress, but for a new direction for our country. Nowhere were the American people more clear about the need for a new direction than in the war in Iraq.
The American people rejected an open-ended obligation to a war without end. Shortly, President Bush will address the nation on the subject of Iraq. It is the responsibility of the president to articulate a new plan for Iraq that makes it clear to the Iraqis that they must defend their own streets and their own security, a plan that promotes stability in the region, and a plan that allows us to responsibly redeploy our troops. …
And the American people told us they expected us to work together for fiscal responsibility, with the highest ethical standards and with civility and bipartisanship.
Bush has given Pelosi her marching orders, and she has given the president his. Does this bode well for bipartisanship?
Perhaps. Bipartisanship is not unanimity. It is, at best, productive disagreement and is an intensely political process. The best way to begin a bipartisan process is for both sides to clearly state their positions so there can be no confusion about the issues on the table.
That part of the process began this week. What comes next — compromise or gridlock — will signal whether bipartisanship and civility are possible this year in the nation’s capital.