All politics is local. That adage, associated with the former speaker of the U.S. House Tip O'Neill, has long represented conventional wisdom.
There's still some validity to that phrase, but today it might be more correct to say most politics is national and most issues become political.
The focus in today's politics is on national issues. Those issues are too often viewed from a partisan political perspective rather than the actual substance of the issues.
It might be tempting to say the all-politics-is-local adage proved true in the recent Mississippi Republican primary runoff for the U.S. Senate nomination. There, Thad Cochran, first elected to the Senate in 1978, barely survived a challenge from Chris McDaniel, backed by the Tea Party faction. Cochran trailed McDaniel in the first primary, but neither had a clear majority, so a runoff resulted.
Cochran emphasized what he has done for Mississippi -- generating federal funds beneficial to the state and steering federal installations to Mississippi. He also had a solid conservative voting record. However, what mattered for McDaniel was that Cochran occasionally reached across the aisle in the Senate, which McDaniel indicated he would never do. As Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), another conservative who fought off a challenge from the right, said, the campaign against Cochran was part of a misguided "purification effort" on national issues.
Cochran undoubtedly benefited from his "local" record of bringing home the bacon and was helped by some Democrats, particularly African-Americans who hadn't voted in the earlier primary, and were able to cast ballots for Cochran in the runoff, preferring Cochran to the Tea Party candidate. That embittered McDaniel even more.
Though there were "local" elements to Cochran's win, the Mississippi race is a microcosm of the trend to see politics through a national prism. A major factor driving this trend and the internecine warfare in the GOP is the no-compromise approach to policy positions and politicizing every issue.
Look at recent or current issues -- Obamacare, immigration, veterans affairs, the missing IRS email, Benghazi, etc. All have been subsumed by politics, obscuring the issues themselves.
Consider the Common Core education standards, which resulted from an effort by the nation's governors and education officials, not something that emerged from Washington. However, it has become a cause for anti-Washington crusaders, and several states have pulled out.
Then there's the maelstrom in Iraq, an almost inevitable aftermath of our misguided venture there. None other than the shameless Dick Cheney is placing blame on the Barack Obama administration. How's that for political chutzpah?
A contributing factor in nationalizing and politicizing issues is the role of the media. The public now gets more information from national sources -- online and cable news and radio talk shows -- than in the past. Much of the "debate" on issues is packaged in a polarized right vs. left format, reinforcing the hardening of political extremes. These ideological silos are over-represented in the political process.
Those silos are certainly evident on Capitol Hill where collegiality has vanished. A recent report by a group of former members of Congress emphasized the need for building relationships within Congress and with the administration. Among their recommendations: Members should spend more time in Washington, which is counter to the notion they should be there only for minimal time lest they become too identified with the capital city.
Former U.S. Sen. David Pryor of Arkansas recently lamented that members of Congress no longer develop personal relationships, regardless of political party. Pryor, who served in the Senate from 1979 to 1997 and earlier in the House, said, "Politics was personal at that time and it has be personal again" so that trust and a willingness to work together can result.
The spirit of President George H. W. Bush's 1989 inaugural address needs to be revived: "To my friends ... in the loyal opposition ... I put out my hand. This is the age of the offered hand ... The American people await action. They didn't send us here to bicker. They asked us to rise above the merely partisan." Contrast that with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's proclaimed priority of stopping Obama at every turn.
The recent death of Howard Baker, the congenial conciliator from Tennessee who served as Senate majority and minority leader, reminds us there are those who can rise above partisanship. Baker was a staunch Republican and had been a close friend of President Richard Nixon, but on the Senate Watergate Committee, Baker's critical questions helped seal Nixon's fate. Baker took political risks in working with Democratic Majority Leader Robert Byrd and the Carter administration to gain passage of the Panama Canal Treaties in 1978.
Baker's willingness to go beyond political considerations and work for broader national interests exemplify what is lacking today.
HOYT PURVIS IS A JOURNALISM AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS PROFESSOR.
Commentary on 07/06/2014