Hands across the aisle

My latest op-ed, title above, appeared in today’s The Virginian-Pilot. As shown in the video in the post below, last night’s State of the Union embraced a bit of this by having members of opposite parties sit together. But that was just for show.

Despite all of the red meat that gets thrown to supporters, a whole lot of the representatives actually do know how to get along. (Obviously, there are some exceptions, including this guy, who stayed in his office rather than sitting in the chambers and watching the speech.)

Sometimes I wonder which came first – politicians pandering to the party faithful or the party faithful demanding politicians pander to them. Regardless, many politicians run from their votes that demonstrate the ability to actually get stuff done, and to avoid being labeled a RINO or a DINO.

These pols want to be known as leaders.  Perhaps they should act like it.