Our national discourse is becoming increasingly shrill. We are faced with complex economic, social, and foreign policy questions that need a safe atmosphere in which to explore solutions that will work for the long term. Partisan attacks have taken hold in Washington and throughout the country, and reasoned analysis is harder and harder to find. Can we turn it around? What will it take to shift from accusation to reflection and purposeful debate? Can we find mutual respect that allows us to “govern across the divide?”
On the evening of Tuesday, October 5, as part of its commitment to present programs at the intersection of faith and public life, Washington National Cathedral hosts the 2010 Nancy and Paul Ignatius Program. This year’s program features two presidential chiefs of staff: Rahm Emanuel, chief of staff to President Barack Obama, and Joshua Bolten, chief of staff to former President George W. Bush. Historian Michael Beschloss provides a reflection following the main dialogue featuring CBS anchor Bob Schieffer as moderator. Knowing firsthand how intense the political climate can get, Emanuel and Bolten share a sense of how and why Washington has become so divisive and how we might return some civility and cooperation to the discourse. [my emphasis]
If you didn’t already know, I’m all in favor of the occasional F-Bomb.
What I’m not in favor of is attacking your allies, particularly not if you’re in a position of power made possible by the hard work of those allies.
But I guess the National Cathedral ascribes to that well established religion of the Village, flaccid bipartisanship that ignores things like mutual respect.
And to answer your question, yes, the Ignatius family sponsoring this is columnist David Ignatius’.