Can you Really Teach an Old Dog New Tricks?

I hate to compare members of Congress and the Senate to old dogs, because I love dogs of any age, really. But in truth could it be that the majority of Congressmen and Senators are just too old to compromise. Maybe we need to stop re-electing them and start searching for new, young idealists to take their places. Because they can't agree on anything. Case in point Senator Chris Dodd (D. Conn.) has been trying to increase banking regulations for the last 9 months trying to put together a Consumer Protection Act. Today it was finally revealed, and it appears that communications between him and his Republican committee members has broken down to the point that when the Act in question finally hits the floor of the Senate, the Republican's actively plan to filibuster it. So my question is could it just be that they are all too old to figure out how to work together? And would it be wrong of me to ask if we can trade in our models for a newer ones? You know, the ones with less connections, more idealism, and less of a need to be re-elected for fear of losing power in Washington. I mean when do we take our leadership back from the soon to be diaper generation?