The election of Barack Obama is a call for change, and not only of the occupant of the White House. Throughout the campaign, Senator Obama has championed a different kind of politics than we have seen in years, a politics based on what we can do together rather than on what drives us apart. The Members of the 111th Congress need to take that lesson to heart.

As a nation and as members of the federal government, we face a daunting situation. We must get to work finding solutions, rather than assigning blame. The consensus is clear that we need to change course. No one man and no single party, however, has a monopoly on the good ideas or the smarts we will need to put our country back on the right track. The Obama Administration will include Republicans and, probably, some Independents as well. Congress must share that bipartisan spirit, among ourselves and in our dealings with the Executive Branch.

We must do the same in our dealings with the American people. The increase in government secrecy and the decline in transparency have marked one of the greatest mistakes our government has made in recent years, one that we have already begun to undo. President-elect Obama has made a spirit of openness and transparency a guiding light of his campaign. Congress must do the same. We need to engage in rigorous, detailed, and cooperative debate on the major policy issues before us. There must be good faith on all sides, and we must seek reasonable compromises where they are appropriate. Our problems are too big for one man, but nothing is too hard if we work together.

A new world is open before us. Let us go forward, together, into that brighter, better future.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 at 2:42 pm and is filed under Uncategorized .