"PURSUE TRUTH--FOCUS--ACT ON WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT"

Have we ever seen  a tornado of swirling news like this?

The President of the United States contradicting himself and leading his surrogates to do the same.

The President continuing to make unsubstantiated claims such as Obama having wiretapped him without any evidence whatsoever.

The President firing the FBI director in the most disrespectful way imaginable disrupting the investigation of Russia's ties to the election-- justifying the action because, as the President said, Comey was a "showboat" and was not supported by the members of the FBI--both assertions categorically denied by the Acting Director the FBI.

It is all too easy to get caught up in it minute to minute, to the point of having it overwhelm our daily lives and lose focus on what we can and must do to make a difference.

We cannot be complacent. The policy issues are too large. Even larger are the issues of the character and values we live by. We cannot accept lying as the new norm and pass it off as akin to a vaudeville act we have to put up with. Common decency has to be upheld.

Increasingly I say to myself:

Pursue truth at all costs.

Focus.

Speak out and act on what I believe are the most important issues which I can try to influence such as health care, early childhood development; overcoming poverty; and tax reform which drives economic growth and achieves greater fairness across incomes.