More Grownups Needed In Washington, Say Former Lawmakers

By Rachel Whitt

An array of think tankers and former lawmakers gathered at the Aspen Institute on Wednesday to brainstorm ways of overcoming the era of gridlock that has engulfed Washington.

The roundtable discussion was moderated by Mickey Edwards, a former Republican Congressman from Oklahoma, who now serves as Director of the Aspen Institute Rodel Fellowships in Public Leadership. Edwards lamented the hyperpartisanship that has slowed the pace of business on Capitol Hill.

“[We need to] think in terms of what’s the goal,” Edwards said. “The ability to compromise, to sit down with people who don’t start out where you are and find a way to talk to each other, to listen to each other, to be civil, and to have the kind of civil society Aristotle wanted us to have.”

Other topics broached included invigorating the younger voting audience, the integrity of the electoral process, and who is to blame for the current hostile rhetoric and partisanship that is happening in Congress.

“I think the voters have a responsibility to make sure that the people that they elect know exactly what it is they want them to do,” said Delaware Governor Jack Markell (D). “I think there is a media responsibility…but I think there is also a significant responsibility on the part of the elected officials themselves. Somebody has got to be the grownup in the room, and I think that is what is so often missing.”

Markell is one of several Democratic Governors who have backed President Obama’s deficit reduction plan, which somewhat resembles the plan put forth last year by Obama’s bipartisan fiscal commission, chaired by Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Alan Simpson.

Other speakers included a pair of former Senators, Republican Bob Bennett (Utah) and Democrat John Warner (Va.), 2010 Senate candidate and former Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Greyson and NPR Correspondent Cokie Roberts.