If Reagan and Tip O’Neal, if Mitchell and Dole, Lott and Daschle could do this, why can’t today’s party leaders do the same?

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that it's because they aren't leaders at all. They are followers. Followers of polls, followers of the whims of the electorate, followers of partisan media.

It seems our leaders are following unruly mobs with unreasonable demands.