Sen. Mark Udall has a dream. He has made the radical proposal that Democrats and Republicans actually sit together during the State of the Union address.
It’s not exactly a dream on the Martin Luther King Jr. scale. And yet the idea, first greeted with reactions ranging from derision to scorn, is starting to take hold. John McCain has signed on. Chuck Schumer has signed on. As of Friday, more than 20 lawmakers had agreed. It was beginning to look like a movement.
That shouldn’t be a surprise. Given that much of the nation is looking for any signs of harmony after the tragedy in Tucson, this would be an easy gesture that embraces at least the notion of bipartisanship.
Of course, it would be pure symbolism when what we really need from Congress is to address issues of greater weight than seating arrangements.
Apparently, the House rules allow for open seating. Parties traditionally self-segregate in a celebration of the two-party system and to enhance the opportunity for someone to yell “You lie!” at the leader of the free world.
If Democrats and Republicans do sit together, it might rob the night of its most important drama. The speech, which tends to drag, allows the cameras to focus on those from one side of the aisle rising in frenzied approval while those on the other sit and glare. You don’t see a nation divided so much as you see a Congress riven by partisan pettiness.
It’s the American way.
Udall wrote: “Perhaps, by sitting with each other for one night, we will begin to rekindle that common spark that brought us here from 50 different states and widely diverging backgrounds to serve the public good.”
That’s a long shot. But it can’t hurt.
Then, maybe, if Congress can find enough common ground to get on with the nation’s business, they could begin to tackle issues such as spending, the dangerously high national debt, and immigration reform, to name just a few.