Negativity drove me out of politics in the mid-Nineties.

Hypocrisy is the scarlet letter in politics.

I don't really care how or why Obama got to the right place on gay marriage. I'm just glad he got there.

As in nature, politics abhors a vacuum. Without a strong voice for more moderate leadership, the Tea Party is filling that vacuum.

Reasonable people can reasonably disagree on policy.

Presidents should do whatever possible and practical to encourage an environment of cooperation and bipartisanship. And they should maintain a certain level of decorum, diplomacy and decency. But, at the end of the day, presidents get elected to enact change.

A messy participatory process is representative democracy at its best.