All the while, D'Amelio was makingtoughchoices about Lucent's business as he tried to figure out when the company's customers would start buying telecom equipment again, and he cut its staff by 75% to 30, 000.
He has put forward proposals that demonstrate his commitment to makingtoughchoices, to meeting Republicans halfway in the arena of common ground and he certainly hopes that Republicans will similarly come forward with proposals that demonstrate that kind of spirit.
And part of the problem is, is when politicians pretend that there is, then we put off making the toughchoices to develop new energy sources and become more energy efficient.
It requires making sacrifices, wrestling with toughchoices and telling Americans the hard and unpleasant truth -- all the things that politicians hate to do.