[B]ecause politics seems to speak so little to what they [Americans] are going through — becaus they understand that politics today is a business and not a mission, and what passes for debate is little more than spectacle — they turn inward, away from the noise and rage and endless chatter.

For it's precisely the pursuit of ideological purity, the rigid orthodoxy and the sheer predictability of our current political debate, that keeps us from finding new ways to meet the challenges we face as a country. ... What's needed is a broad majority of Americans — Democrats, Republicans, independents of goodwill — who are reengaged in the project of national renewal, and who see their own self-interest as inextricably linked to the interests of others.