Submitting his resignation as a top presidential adviser after 18 months in the job, Republican David Gergen says "acrimony and anger have reached new lows in Washington."
"The problem of partisanship in Washington is one that is shared by both parties, and it can only be ended by both parties working together," Gergen said in a telephone interview from Seoul, South Korea. "Both sides have reason to believe the other has not been constructive."In his resignation letter to President Clinton released Tuesday, Gergen said that when he joined the Democratic administration in May 1993 he was convinced it was essential "that we move beyond the scorching partisanship of the past."
"The very fact that you asked someone who had proudly served in three Republican White Houses to join you in a Democratic White House was, I believe, an important signal that you also valued bipartisanship," Gergen wrote.
Meanwhile, Duke University announced that Gergen has formally accepted a visiting professorship at the Durham, N.C., school. He will teach an undergraduate course during the spring 1995 semester called "Governing in Today's America" at Duke's Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy.
Gergen began his service in the Clinton White House as a presidential counselor to help mold Clinton's public image. He later moved to the State Department.
In his letter, Gergen said there were "moments when bipartisanship flourished" over the past 17 months. He cited cooperation between the parties in Congress to pass the North American Free Trade Agreement and the National Service Act.