America will choose a president in two days. That person will have the enormous responsibility of leading the free world for the next four years while trying to fix a boatload of unsolved issues that have faced our nation for a decade or, in some cases, much longer.

This piece is being written just days before America votes in hopes the message won't get lost in people saying "he's writing that because" his man won or his man lost.

People tend to hear what they want to hear and seem to make three out of two plus two even when their complaints are not supported by the actual words they read. They make conclusions because things are not stated exactly as they would have stated them to support their idea or belief.

It happens consistently, and that's OK. It's just part of the territory in this business.

Most of the so-called political experts can agree the race between President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney is too close to call. So, with that in mind, there's no way to logically conclude there is bias in this writing.

Regardless of who wins Tuesday, politics needs to take a long vacation. We've got too many problems to waste another day.

We don't need a member of Congress from either party to say — or even think — that the priority for his or her party in the next four years is to get the newly elected president beat or to block him at every turn.

When a member of one party brings an idea to potentially fix a problem, we don't need a member of Congress or the president to dismiss it and say it won't work simply because the thought came from someone from the other party. If the idea isn't perfect, see if it can be tweaked to work. At least try.

If we see someone standing in the way of problem-solving efforts, he needs to be called out on it. And the people who vote for that person need to let it be known they will find someone else who will work for the people instead of a particular party.

When the next vote comes up and every Democrat votes one way and every Republican votes another way, start asking your senators or congressmen why. No one is always right or always wrong. Some will find this hard to believe, but every Democrat's idea is not bad nor is every Republican idea.

The next time someone points a finger and assigns blame to someone from the other party, ask them to put forth their idea on how to solve the problem.

The way things are now done in Washington isn't working.

People need to work together or go home. Any president should be able to support that idea.

Mike Goens can be reached at 256-740-5740 or mike.goens@TimesDaily.com.