We need leadership. We don't need a doubling down on the failed politics of the past.

Everyone who feels stuck in the Obama economy is right to focus on the here and now. And I hope you understand this too, if you're feeling left out or passed by: You have not failed, your leaders have failed you.

Exploiting people's emotions of fear, envy and anxiety is not hope, it's not change, it's partisanship. We don't need partisanship. We don't need demagoguery, we need solutions.

Thanks to the bold leadership of governors Pete Wilson and Gray Davis, California put aside politics and focused on sound public policy. We are fortunate to live in a pro-choice state where elected officials worked across party lines to make us No. 1.

Here's the problem if you keep raising tax rates: You slow down economic growth.

Since taking office, President Obama has signed into law spending increases of nearly 25 percent for domestic government agencies - an 84 percent increase when you include the failed stimulus. All of this new government spending was sold as 'investment.'