Sen. Lindsey Graham's leadership in seeking and finding common ground on the recent proposed revision of the U.S. Senate's rules on filibusters was both statesmanlike and effective. The compromise offered by Graham and his colleagues resolved the Senate's parliamentary dilemma and as a first success has allowed for the confirmation of three nominees to the federal bench, which had been delayed for years. However, instead of being praised for his creative leadership, Graham is being pilloried by critics who wanted him to stick to a partisanship-first agenda.

Rigid party politics, which atrophy the deliberative process, are not at all what our country needs now or in the future, and I certainly hope Graham will continue his reasoned, effective and independent approach to public service.

As the acrimony against the senator and his colleagues who crafted the recent compromise swirls about us, I am reminded again of William Butler Yeats' haunting lament in his poem, "The Second Coming": "Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; ... the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity."

From the passionate intensity of Graham's critics, some bordering on rage, one might think Yeats was still with us and reporting on the demise of civil discourse at the highest levels of today's American political system. Living or dead, Yeats' admonition that the center must hold is enormously valuable advice to us.

What is needed in our political system today are leaders who will face our difficult national and state problems with open minds and who will search creatively and collectively for workable solutions. We gain nothing by rigidity and acrimony, and lose miserably when we forget that government is not about winning and losing or establishing one favored philosophy over another, but about governing.

I also am proud of the stand Graham has taken on behalf of South Carolina's rural schools, stating forthrightly that if he had children in any of the state's underfunded school districts, he would want relief, too. As reported in the documentary "Corridor of Shame," Graham describes the origin of this problem as one of neglect. He does not point fingers or wave a partisan banner. Instead, like the leader he has become, he expresses his hope that should the courts fail to grant the needed relief, that "all of us in government and the private sector should fill the void."

Lindsey Graham gets it: Success in government is about tackling and solving our serious public problems. Vigorous debate about the means to that end is both healthy and welcome but, at the end of the day, the job of governing must get done. This only will happen if the center holds.

The rise of bullheaded partisanship from both of our nation's political parties is an unwelcome and destructive affliction upon our body politic. It polarizes our elected leaders, turning them into permanent warring camps; it subordinates problem solving to short-term political advantage; it reduces political debate to empty exchanges of sound bite demagoguery; and finally, it alienates rather than encourages citizen participation in our system.

I applaud Graham and his colleagues for rescuing the Senate and, indeed this nation, from this recent imbroglio and for speaking out on behalf of this state's rural schools. His willingness to break out of the partisan pack takes insight, judgment and courage. With these noble characteristics, South Carolina's new senior senator is fighting the good fight so the center might hold.