Government of National Unity. What a Concept.

I realize it is a slippery slope to talk about politics in a predominantly business-oriented blog. Therefore, even though I currently have some very strong opinions on the upcoming presidential race, I have stayed away from writing about politics...until now. An article in this past Sunday's Washington Post caught my eye. The article talks about a bipartisan meeting, which will be held on January 7 at the University of Oklahoma, that will "challenge the major-party contenders to spell out their plans for forming a 'government of national unity' to end the gridlock in Washington."

Much of the article talks about the potential backing of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg as an independent candidate for the presidency if none of the current major candidates don't make a pledge to "'go beyond tokenism' in building an administration that seeks national consensus."

I don't know enough about Bloomberg to currently have an opinion on him being our next President but I do support the underlying objectives of this session. I strongly believe Washington D.C. is in a state of gridlock because of its deeply partisan nature and nothing will get done until each party is willing to begin working with the other again. David Boren, a former Democratic senator from Oklahoma and currently the president of the University of Oklahoma, says in the article...

Electing a president based solely on the platform or promises of one party is not adequate for this time. Until you end the polarization and have bipartisanship, nothing else matters, because one party simply will block the other from acting.

I am basing my support for the next President primarily on this issue. As a nation, we are in a mess. Domestically, we have big problems that need to be addressed but nothing significant is getting done because we are deeply divided, particularly in Washington D.C. Internationally, we have lost a great deal of credibility with other countries. For our next President, I believe we need a leader who can reach across the aisle and heal our divided nation, as well as regain our nation's credibility in the global arena.

I will be watching closely to see what comes out of the January 7 session.