Are there solutions

First, let me say that what I am about to write is not what I think will happen. But it is what I think should happen.

President Obama needs to be the leader for the whole country not just for his party.  Remember when Presidents would come on TV and talk to us from the Oval office? I used to find that annoying but I see it served a valuable purpose. I believe that when Presidents Reagan through Clinton did that it helped unify the country.

It seems like the last time I remember that being done was right after 9-11. I think we need that again as a country almost as badly as we did in 2001.

I could be wrong but I believe that speaking from the oval office would help the President to speak as neutrally as possible.  Obviously I don't know but I would guess that every President from Eisenhower up through Nixon would speak from the oval office on a regular basis; and I'm sure that that it had a little to do with assurance and neutrality.

President Obama needs to talk more strongly about civil discussions in these tough times. He needs  to urge   bipartisanship between state and national leaders. And he needs to urge the national media, and more specifically the cable news channels to be more responsible in what they air and to stop stirring things up.

At the same time, someone who is respected by everyone (if that is possible) needs to be spreading the message of the importance of responsible, adult discussion of the issues. The person I suggest for that role would be Colin Powell. I had hoped Mr Powell would run for President in the last elections and he is still the person I would like to see leading this country.

Finally, I wish there was a way to set up a committee of people from all parties; who would come together for a regular show to review the media's coverage of the issues. If possible, I would have the majority of this committee be made of people who do not appear regularly on network or cable news shows. This committee could serve as an unofficial watchdog of the media.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, I don't think this will happen but it would be a good thing.