Dawidziak: Political courage contagious?

Spring is in the air and this year, the traditional season for love has spawned some surprising relationships -- and even more remarkable achievements.

On the national level, Democrats President Barack Obama and Senate Leader Harry Reid and Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner reached a compromise on the federal budget late last week. True, they took it to the eleventh hour and only narrowly averted a government shutdown. But the art of brinkmanship was perfected in Washington, D.C. Our nation's leaders have always seemed to enjoy leaning over the precipice as far as possible, getting the most expansive view of the abyss below. Sometimes they lean too long and too far -- and over they go, us along with them, such as during the impasse that led to the 1995 government shutdown.

It didn't go that far this time because both sides gave something up. In the spin room, that means both sides won major concessions. The Republicans can accurately claim that they got additional spending cuts from Democrats. The Democrats can claim bragging rights for shutting down the hated social policy riders, on matters ranging from defunding Planned Parenthood to blocking the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. So both parties can wave victories in front of their bases. Even more important politically, they looked reasonable to the moderate-independent swing voters who, according to the polls, overwhelmingly supported a compromise.

But as astonishing as all that felt, what preceded it in Albany was even more amazing. There, Democrats Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Republican Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos announced a budget agreement late last month that cuts a $10-billion deficit and does it without new taxes or substantial borrowing. And they actually did it on time.

As in Washington, both parties had to give up on items they felt passionately about. The Republicans had to kick the can down the road on mandate reform and the property tax cap. The Assembly Democrats fought hard to keep the "millionaires' tax" but, when the governor sided with the Republicans, they had to concede the point.

With so much pain and suffering in this budget -- particularly in aid to schools and capping state Medicaid expenditures -- it's hard to imagine that it is popular. Still, both the governor's and the legislature's poll numbers increased after the deal was announced.

Traditionally, when these types of deals are struck, the press pontificates over who the political winners and losers are. But in the case of the Washington and Albany compromises, everybody wins. Not everybody is going to like everything in the deals, of course, but the voters are rewarding their elected leaders with popular support for showing the courage to make the tough choices.

Now, we need this spirit of compromise to find its way into our local halls of government, on the county and town levels. Long Island is facing major problems: Sky-high property taxes, inadequate public transportation, crumbling roads, a lack of affordable housing, stagnant economic development, unemployment and a housing crisis are just a few of the challenges that will have a serious, negative impact on our future. Too often, partisan and personal bickering has blocked meaningful solutions to these problems. None of the challenges is exactly a secret, so elected officials need to be careful that they aren't perceived as fiddling while the Island burns.

Lawrence C. Levy, head of the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University and a former Newsday columnist, once said, "These people don't get it. . . . They'll always get points for courage." In the case of Washington and Albany, maybe, finally, they do get it.

Now let's hope it's contagious.