Yesterday B Hussein Obama and several senators had lunch and discussed current issues. Two things struck me from the article:
Republican Senators’ Lunch With Obama Is Marked by Spirited Confrontations
WASHINGTON — President Obama’s luncheon Tuesday with Senate Republicans was not televised like a similar session earlier this year with the House opposition, but evidently it would have made for captivating theater.
By nearly all accounts, pent-up frustrations boiled over as the president and the very lawmakers who have consistently opposed much of his agenda engaged in spirited and at times confrontational exchanges over immigration, spending, White House tactics and other issues during a private 75-minute session.
Senator John McCain, Mr. Obama’s former presidential rival, lashed out at the administration for its portrayal of the new immigration law in his home state of Arizona. And Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee suggested that the administration had been less than sincere in trying to seek a bipartisan deal on the financial regulatory overhaul, which was passed last week with just four Republican votes....
During the meeting, Mr. Corker, who had been negotiating with Democrats over the Wall Street legislation, said there was a “tremendous disconnect” between the president’s call for bipartisanship and the way the administration conducted itself during the debate on the financial legislation.
But according to aides, Mr. Obama said that while he would have loved to have 70 or 80 overall votes in favor of the measure, he was not going to water down the legislation in the interest of running up the vote total....
In response to Mr. McCain, the president said, according to those present, that he had read and understood Arizona’s tough new immigration law. He pointed out that his administration had done more than others in the area of border security and enforcement. He also expressed confidence that he could persuade a majority of Democratic senators to support tougher border security but said that “solving the problems is not going to just be a function of border security.”
Funny, I don't recall the Times saying Democrats were confrontational when then opposed Bush's attempt to reform banking regulations or Social Security. Guess I must have missed that....
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who participants said served somewhat as a mediator during the session, said he warned the president not to try to move too quickly on immigration, saying a legislative failure on the issue like the one that occurred in 2007 could doom chances for any agreement for years.
Republicans said they believed that the president was too quick to take offense during the meeting. But despite the occasionally testy back-and-forth, they said, they still considered the session worthwhile and productive, expressing gratitude for the time allowed by Mr. Obama.
Graham is a wishey- washy moderate from South Carolina who is only in office because SC has an open primary. Democrats vote for him in the primary and he loves the attention he gets from the Times, Wash Post, etc for stabbing Conservatives in the back. Naturally he will get lots of airtime on the usual Sunday shows...
No comments:
Post a Comment