God Bless Americans

Did you happen to catch Face the Nation on Sunday morning? Anchor Bob Schieffer closed the show with the news that our own University of Oklahoma and President David Boren are hosting a bi-partisan forum on January 7th. The forum's topic is to consider the merits of a 3rd party bid for the White House.

This business as usual presidential campaign has been frustrating and infuriating. The posturing and rhetoric are maddening. Slippery slope comments and lack of any substantial platforms have left many Americans looking somewhere else for true leadership and a vision for our country's common good. America must look clearly and honestly at debt, welfare, health care, national defense, the family, immigration and education. Citizens put their money and their trust in elected officials to best insure our way of life, our liberty and our ability to pursue happiness. Americans no longer trust. Americans feel betrayed.

It's partially our fault. #1. We keep voting for them. #2. Lobbyists continue to influence and legislate our elected officials. #3. Pork. America must just say no. #4. Apathy and not getting involved. #5. Not be willing to look realistically at the mess we're in and to tighten our belts. "I want what I want, just not what you want." #6. Not educating ourselves #7. Letting the fringe and radical elements of our society lobby for their platforms, while we, the majority, stand silent. Americans vote a certain way because a favorite movie star endorses the candidate. That in itself is terrifying.

What follows is Sunday's transcript from Face the Nation.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other potential independent presidential candidates are joining prominent Republican and Democratic centrists at a meeting that will consider the merits of a third-party bid for the White House.

The Jan. 7 event was organized by former Democratic senators David Boren and Sam Nunn, and about a dozen prominent figures are expected to participate, including Bloomberg, former Republican senator John Danforth of Missouri and Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., each of whom has been mentioned as a possible independent candidate.

Boren said the meeting will serve as a form of "shock therapy" to the major-party candidates to stop bickering and provide Americans with a blueprint for bipartisanship in Washington. The event will be at the Norman campus of the University of Oklahoma, where he is president.

"We used to work together across party lines and we used to cooperate with each other," Boren said of his relationships with current and former senators who plan to attend. "It is a message to the two parties: Please rise to the occasion. If you don't, there is always a possibility out there of an independent."

In an interview with the New York Times, Boren suggested that if the prospective major party nominees failed within two months to formally embrace bipartisanship and address the fundamental challenges facing the nation, "I would be among those who would urge Mr. Bloomberg to very seriously consider running for president as an independent." Bloomberg's spokesman Stu Loeser told the New York Post that "[Bloomberg] is going [to Oklahoma] because he has seen again and again as mayor how hyper-partisanship in Washington isn't just getting in the way of big reforms, it's getting in the way of any meaningful progress on a whole host of issues."

"He's looking forward to the opportunity to sit down with like-minded leaders to try and find solutions," Loeser added.

The meeting comes one day before the New Hampshire primary.

"We need statesmanship, not politics," Boren said. "The meeting in itself implies there could be other possibilities than a two-party contest."

A Dec. 18 letter from Boren and Nunn to participants asserts that the political system is "at the least, badly bent and many are concluding that it is broken at a time where America must lead boldly at home and abroad. Partisan polarization is preventing us from uniting to meet the challenges that we must face if we are to prevent further erosion of America's power of leadership and example."

"As the letter says, we've literally become a house divided," Boren said. "We really need a government of national unity."

Bloomberg, once a Democrat, then a Republican and now an independent, has denied any interest in running for the presidency even while keeping speculation alive that he might.

"Despite public statements that he has no plans to run as an Independent candidate for president, his staff has laid out exact plans for the press on many occasions," reports CBSNews.com senior political editor Vaughn Ververs. "A billionaire businessman who has in the past indicated his future lies in philanthropy could easily spend that money on a campaign instead."

Like the meeting's organizers, the mayor has criticized the tone of the campaign as one of overbearing partisanship. He said last month the country "needs somebody that says, "I'm going to get the best from both parties."

I contacted OU's Special Events Coordinator, Stacey Murry and she furnished the following information regarding the forum next Monday. (There is also more information on restoring America to a bi-partisan and unified nation at http://www.unity08.com/members. Their mission statement is Re-United States of America.)

Stacey Murray
Coordinator of Special Projects
OU Public Affairs

You are cordially invited to attend a bipartisan forum of national political leaders at OU on Monday, January 7, 2008 from 11:00 a.m. to noon in Holmberg Hall at the Donald W. Reynolds Performing Arts Center.
Through these events, the university advances its goal of educating our students about the presidency as an institution and national issues that they are likely to face as the future leaders of our nation as well as encouraging their civic involvement.

......the university is pleased to announce that we will be host to a panel of leaders who will be potentially influential in producing increased national discussion of fundamental issues in the upcoming presidential election. The panel's discussion will include ways in which our nation can end divisive partisan polarization, create bipartisanship, and bring the country together after conclusion of the 2008 election.

Those national leaders who are expected to participate in the panel include:
David Abshire, President of the Center for the Study of the Presidency
Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City and founder of Bloomberg News
David Boren, Former U.S. Senator
Bill Brock, Former U.S. Senator
Bill Cohen, Former Secretary of Defense and U.S. Senator
Jack Danforth, Former U.S. Senator
Alan Dixon, Former U.S. Senator
Susan Eisenhower, Chairman Emeritus, The Eisenhower Institute
Bob Graham, Former U.S. Senator
Chuck Hagel, U.S. Senator
Gary Hart, Former U.S. Senator
Jim Leach, Former Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
Sam Nunn, Former U.S. Senator
Edward Perkins, Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
Chuck Robb, Former U.S. Senator
Christine Todd Whitman, Former New Jersey Governor

"We hope that you will be able to take advantage of learning from this panel of distinguished visitors and their dialogue on the critical issues facing our nation and the world. "

Throwing my shoe at the television hasn't worked. Wringing my hands for the future of my children and grandchildren hasn't either. I cannot stand back any longer and just lament the sad condition of my country. What a unique opportunity to go to Norman and see what these statesmen offer as a solution. I quote the Unity08 website, "We invite all Americans to join us as voting members, to light up their own torch of freedom, and to help us reactivate the true American community - where finding common ground is how true leaders meet crucial issues and prove worthy of both our history and our dreams."