When it comes to leadership, two politicians agree that the best way to come together is compromise.

OU President David Boren might be a Democrat, and Christine Todd Whitman might be a Republican, but they are both “militant moderates,” Boren said. This was how he introduced Whitman, former governor of New Jersey , Tuesday night at a roundtable dinner in the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art.

Whitman said people called moderate Republicans “RINO’s” or Republicans-In-Name-Only, but she said that is what Americans want in leadership— leaders who find middle ground.

“In the last election, the American people said ‘enough,’” Whitman said. “Enough of the partisanship … you can’t solve problems when you can’t have discussion. You can’t have discussion when everyone’s fighting.”

Whitman said the Republican Party was perceived as “extremism,” which led to Republicans losing majorities in both the U.S. House and Senate.

“People were angry,” Whitman said. “They didn’t vote for Democrats, they voted against what was happening in Washington . They didn’t want to give this Republican majority this vote.”

Whitman said many of the Republicans who had won by 20 percent in 2004— moderate Republicans— lost in 2006 because of partisanship. She said even Democrats, such as Hillary Clinton, were being criticized by their parties for being “too moderate.”

“We can’t afford this next cycle to break down to look forward to 2008,” Whitman said. “If the Democrats are smart, they will find bi-partisan issues.”

She said one of those issues is immigration, which she thinks is something both sides want to address, and that the American people want addressed. For things to get done at the Capitol, she said, Americans must continue to expect more from their leaders.

“There are bigger things we need to do for this country,” Whitman said. “We need to stay engaged. We need to keep the pressure on our elected officials. We have to remind them that this is about the American people wanting to get together for the greater good.”

Boren said former President Abraham Lincoln appointed his opponents to his cabinet because they were strong leaders, not because they agreed with Lincoln ’s policies. He said Lincoln ’s sacrifices led the country during one of its most difficult times.

“Lincoln rose above his personal ambitions and above his ego,” Boren said. “This has been the spirit of public service that has guided our guest. She is a person that does not start by thinking about what will play well politically.

“She is an important voice in this country, back toward moderation, back toward consensus, back toward bi-partisanism.”

Whitman, the first female governor of New Jersey and former administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Ag-ency, authored “It’s My Party, Too: The Battle for the Heart of the GOP and the Future of America,” focusing on the need to return the Republican Party to its historic principles of fiscal conservatism and personal freedom.

She also will speak at noon today in the Molly Shi Boren Ballroom in Oklahoma Memorial Union.