April 4, 2008

What do you know… democrats and republicans in the Senate are working together on a bipartisan bill to solve the mortgage problem that has put millions of homeowners at risk of losing their house.

“Casting aside partisan differences,” begins the New York Times account of the agreement, republicans and democrats have agreed to work together to solve the problem.

Now isn’t that refreshing? And in an election year, too.

This is precisely the point Bob Beckel and I make in our book “Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan War that is Destroying America.” When politicians actually try to work together to accomplish things that benefit the most people instead of preserving themselves in office, it can happen.

The problem has been that partisanship has become polarization in which nothing gets done because one side can’t allow the other side to claim victory. Real people don’t live like this on their jobs, or in their neighborhoods. At least on this one issue, the Senate is behaving for real.

Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.