A time for resolutions in Washington

Let’s hope President Barack Obama and members of Congress have made New Year’s resolutions and that they plan to keep them. We hope the president has resolved to be the unifier he claimed to be during his election

campaign and that he intends to work seriously with the Republicans on the key issue facing the nation: balancing the budget and developing a plan to cut the accumulated deficits over the long term without stalling the economic recovery in the short term.

Too often during the past two years, it seemed as if the president regarded Republican members of Congress as nuisances, and not as representatives of millions of voters whose views must be respected and seriously considered. Too often, the Republicans acted as if halting all of the president’s initiatives was their only goal; they cared little about presenting coherent alternative policies.

For the good of the country, that can’t continue. The president must set the tone, but we hope the incoming speaker of the House, John Boehner, R-Ohio, will work with the president on those tasks, and not simply try to block Mr. Obama’s initiatives. He should not allow his large House majority to go to his head. We hope he has resolved to show courage and ignore those who reject compromise, because without it, nothing meaningful will be achieved in the Congress.

Tea Party Republicans say they want to cut government spending and reduce the federal deficit, but that won’t happen with a stalemated Congress; they will have to join Mr. Boehner in compromising with the Democrats.

Likewise, we hope that new House minority leader Nancy Pelosi has resolved to work with Republicans. She notably failed to do so during the last Congress, when she and the Democratic House leaders paid only lip service to the notion of compromise. That must change.

Compromise also will be required in the Senate if progress is to be made in tackling the deficit. There, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., should have resolved that he will find a way to compromise with Senate Republicans even though he still has a lead in votes.

As in the House, Senate Republicans should make whatever compromises are necessary to tackle the country’s fiscal problems, short- and long-term. They may argue over other issues, such as the possible modification or repeal of the Obama health care reform law or the financial reform law, but they must not let that interfere with the most important issue: getting America’s fiscal house in order.

No issue is more crucial to our future than managing the federal budget and paying down the nation’s debts.

In short, if they have not already done so, all parties should resolve to make whatever compromises are necessary to see that the United States gets its fiscal house in order, which is the only way it can retain its premier position in the world.