Bill Bennett: “there is nothing that succeeds in politics like good programs, like good policy. Ronald Reagan didn't invent it, but he…”

“there is nothing that succeeds in politics like good programs, like good policy. Ronald Reagan didn't invent it, but he is known for repeating it, saying there is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don't care who gets the credit. Far too much of the partisanship stems from the fact that we don't want the other party to get credit for solving the problem. When I have had discussions across the aisle about this and Social Security, I get told: Bob, we will address that right after the next election. The next election never comes because there is always a next election. The Senator from Oregon is exactly right in that for the first time since Dwight Eisenhower's election, we have an election where there is not an incumbent in the White House on the ballot, either a sitting President or a sitting Vice President. So the Democrats who control the Congress have a political motive to show they can do something as they go into the 2008 elections. The Republicans cannot try to take credit for that with their candidate because they are not going to have a candidate who is part of the present administration. But the Republicans want to be able to say: Well, at least in the last days of the Bush administration something important got done. The setting is rare. We should take advantage of it. This is the moment, and I join with the Senator from Oregon in an attempt to seize it.”