Will unbending stubbornness bring political success?

My wife Dr. Diane Medved is a psychologist and author of best-selling books on marriage and divorce, and she asks a crucial question about the current image of the Republican Party.

If you got involved with someone who was chronically angry, contentious, uncompromising and self-righteous, would you consider that individual a good bet for marriage? How well would those qualities of unbending stubbornness qualify someone as a prospective business partner or office associate?

If the ability to work together with other people and to make progress through give-and-take counts as crucial for intimate relationships and business, why should that approach be any less essential for political success?

As my wife has managed to teach me after 28 years, compromise, cheerfulness and moderation aren’t always dirty words – and shouldn’t really require the abandonment of principle or long-term goals.

There’s a lesson here for the GOP.