Broder Hails Bipartisanship

David Broder's column today profiles Senators Lindsey Graham and John Sununu, praising them for their willingness to think independently and work toward bipartisan solutions on national security. From talking to them, Broder reports, what "came through most clearly" is "their sense that Congress as an institution must assert itself and take responsibility for setting policy on these national security issues."

"For too long, they both said, it has been too easy to say - or imply - that it's the president's job alone to decide how to protect the nation's safety and vital interests. That complacent attitude may have been tolerable during the false lull after the end of the Cold War, but it cannot be accepted during a time of war and continuing terrorist threats.

Last month the Senate asserted itself by passing a meaningful, bipartisan declaration that 2006 must be a 'year of transition' in which Iraqis take over major responsibility for the security and stability of their own country.

That younger senators such as Graham and Sununu are organizing bipartisan coalitions on such corollary national security issues as the Patriot Act and treatment of detainees is good news for the country. It is time for a similar effort in the House."

Agreed.