From the Newark, N.J. Star-Ledger — Originally published Friday, Jan. 23

… No solution to the nation’s economic perils or consensus on dangerous foreign policy issues (terrorism, Afghanistan, the Arab-Israeli conflict) is possible without significant bipartisan accord.

Democrats, despite their hefty majorities in Congress, can’t do either alone. Obama needs substantial GOP help — not merely for the votes but for the reassurance and renewed confidence such cross-party unity would produce abroad as well as here at home.

He needs an extended honeymoon as well. Not the short-lived one accorded all new presidents but one that endures through his first full year. It won’t last much beyond that, if that long. The mid-term elections in 2010 will cut short any era of good feeling.

But much can be accomplished in a year by a popular president with a solid electoral mandate and a partisan detente in Congress, including a much-needed display of common purpose and a national government that’s finally got its act together.

Republicans will exact a price for their support — a say on tax policy and almost certainly in how the trillion-dollar stimulus money is spent. … Obama seems willing, even eager, to oblige. …