As I was contemplating writing a column pleading for more mature and measured bipartisan efforts in the face of our nation’s presumed forthcoming fiscal disaster, I recalled the column I wrote exactly four years ago about a “purple coalition” and what the Volunteer State could offer America’s new president early on in his administration. Though my support for President Barack

When almost 30 Nashvillians  gathered at our house last month, we had at least three things in common: +We were all supporters of President-elect Barack Obama, +Not one of us was a Davidson County native, +We each hoped for an inclusive administration seeking bi-partisan solutions to the monumental challenges now facing America. As one of the more than 4,500 “Obama

As an astutely brilliant former Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives once told me: “Neither party has a monopoly on ignorance;” his statement framed one of my earliest, most significant political lessons. The current furor over the nation’s health care reform is an excellent demonstration of that Speaker’s insightful adage.  The idiocy of the right, railing about death panels