Wanted: A bridge-builder for Obama

In order to escape the post-election &quot;political island,&quot; Obama should reach out to Republican leaders, moderate Democrats and the business community.

(Image credit: Getty)

last updated 8 January 2015

After the Democrats' drubbing in the midterm elections, President Obama needs to build some bridges, says Gerald F. Seib in The Wall Street Journal. If he doesn't forge constructive relationships with Republicans in Congress, moderates in his own party, and business leaders, he won't get much done in the next two years. But "reaching out in multiple directions is a tough job," Seib says, and Obama could use help from someone like former Reagan White House chief of staff Kenneth Duberstein. Here's an excerpt:

In his tenuous post-election condition, President Barack Obama finds himself on a political island, no longer linked to the comfortable Democratic majorities in Congress that served as his lifeline for two years.

To exit from that island, he needs to build bridges to three groups: Republican leaders in both houses of Congress, moderate Democrats in the congressional rank and file, and the business community. Such bridges don't simply materialize. They have to be built, and the White House could use a respected figure from the outside to help. ...