[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Page 24166]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            WORKING TOGETHER

  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, that was quite a letter. I must say, to 
be here for this historic moment, my heart is racing. We heard the 
letter from the President-elect resigning from the Senate. This is, 
indeed, a moment of passage in the Senate and for the country. By 
Senator Obama's resignation from the duty and responsibility the people 
of Illinois gave him, it is one more step for him to pick up the 
responsibilities of the Presidency of the United States. I will cherish 
this moment because it will be a historic moment, from ``We need 
change'' and ``Yes, we can'' on the long campaign trail to election 
night, to a charismatic speech calling us to act like an American 
community, not only a country of which we are proud, a nation we hold 
dear, but an American community. That is the Obama message which I hope 
will be the Obama effect. As our President-elect lays down these duties 
and takes up others, we need to realize and respond to his call and a 
new American mandate. Because on November 4, we who hold Federal office 
received a new American mandate to change the tone, to change the 
direction, to change the priorities, and to be able to move on and get 
our economy rolling and bring our troops back home and restore our 
national honor in the world.
  Sign me up. Sign me up as an enthusiastic member of this effort. I 
accept that mandate. I accept it. I call upon all my colleagues to do 
the same, to embrace the message Senator Obama has set, not only in 
terms of a dynamic, robust agenda but how we will work with each other. 
I thought it was grand that he sat down with our colleague from 
Arizona, Senator McCain, to talk about how they could work together, 
how they could find that common ground, how we could find that sensible 
center between what we want to do and what we can afford to do. That is 
the tone Obama set with McCain. Let's set it now with Reid and 
McConnell. Let's try to find common ground, that sensible center, 
pragmatic, affordable solutions we can do now. We have a window. We 
have a time. As President-elect Obama said: This is our time. Our time 
doesn't begin January 20. Our time doesn't begin January 6. This is our 
time now to lay the groundwork for the transition of power, to work 
together. I ask us now, as we look at the stimulus package, as we look 
at solutions for our manufacturing area, how to extend the safety net 
for those people who are already hurting: Let's do that.
  Right now, once again, back to business as usual, entangled in a 
parliamentary quagmire, digging in our heels, based on rigid ideology. 
That is not what the people said on November 4. They said they wanted 
change, and they want it now. Let it begin with us, civilized debate, 
the clash of ideas to find that sensible center. By the way, that 
phrase is not mine. That phrase is Colin Powell's, a great American.
  There it is, right there is the center. I am ready to walk over to 
it. Come on over, I say to the other side.

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