Memo to Democrats

Pulitzer prize winning columnist Leonard Pitts had some good things to say in his most recent column (also published in The Buffalo News).

We have suffered through a very divisive time in politics and we need some real change. Here are a few of my thoughts:

• The changes in the House of Representatives, Governors' Mansions and possibly in the Senate are a repudiation of Bush's disaster in Iraq. Get us out.
• Enough of the Red States, Blue States. How about some purple (or as Pitts writes, red, white and blue)? We need a sense of national destiny again. I never much agreed with Reagan, but he got "the vision thing."
• We don't want too many hearings. Don't waste time on the trivial. Keep it simple, find out who broke the law by lying to us about WMD in Iraq. Otherwise, move on and focus on healing our country.
• We need to repair our image overseas. We are the world's only super power, but can we please stop the arrogance?
• Close the gap between the rich and the poor that has grown so large during the Bush years.
• And, Health Care. Do something to fix our broken system. That would require political bravery.
• Social Security needs attention not partisanship.

Real leadership will require compromise. Compromise, but keep your principals with humility not hubris.