In just two days, we will vote to elect a new president. But as I look forward at the next four years, it seems obvious that regardless of who wins the White House, true and new leadership is required even more in both houses of Congress. I have what I’m sure many would consider a naïve belief: The most powerful event that might change or determine voters' minds even in these 48 hours before the election has nothing to do with Barak Obama & Joe Biden nor Mitt Romney & Paul Ryan. Rather, a Democratic win could be had if only Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid would announce that they each plan to step down from their respective leadership positions for the next term and support a new generation of Democratic leaders. Now that would be true leadership.
Conventional wisdom currently states that under either a President Obama or a President Romney, the Senate and House of Representatives will maintain the status quo: A Republican-led House that won its majority by complaining about all the laws Pelosi, Reid and their caucus counterparts “shoved down our throats” before it proceeded continuing to pass social legislation that remains unpopular with the majority of the nation; and a Democratic-led Senate with a majority that can’t pass anything due to an archaic and ridiculous rule (not constitutionally-based law, mind you) that allows for the possibility of 41 Senators who cumulatively represent less than 15% of the national population to kill any bill they like. (Roughly 80% of the 50 states have smaller populations than New York City, and yet, they all have two senators each.)