↵Research suggests that seeing members of your party and the opposite party get along can have a positive effect on partisans.  Given that, one of CivilPolitics.org's goals is to highlight cases where members of opposite sides of the aisle interact positively, to counteract the many stories of them interacting negatively.  A most striking case of positivity across the aisle was reported by Politico today, where Tea Party firebrand Ted Cruz gave genuine praise to President Obama in a recent speech:

“I want to commend President Obama for two different things. Number one, I want to commend President Obama for listening to the bipartisan calls to submit to the constitutional authority of Congress. That was significant, it was the right thing to do and I’m glad he did so,” Cruz said in a detailed foreign policy speech at the Heritage Foundation’s 4th Annual Jesse Helms Lecture Series.

“And secondly, once the issue came to Congress, that gave the American people a chance to speak up,” he added
 

Given their respective roles in each party, it is heartening to see such words.

– Ravi Iyer