TO BE A FLY ON THE WALL…. I don’t imagine there’s much point in a president being gracious towards those who will do anything to destroy him, but Obama has a stubborn side.
President Barack Obama has accepted an invitation to appear at the House GOP issues conference later this month, and Republican leaders made it clear Tuesday that they will use the opportunity to push their solutions to the country’s economic woes.
“House Republicans are grateful that the President of the United States has accepted our invitation to meet with the Republican Conference later this month,” House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (Ind.) said in a statement. “House Republicans look forward to presenting the president with our proposals to protect our nation, create jobs, control federal spending, lower the cost of health care, achieve energy independence and strengthen families.”
I’d love to be a fly on the wall for that one. The two sides want to take the country in entirely different directions, and one has spent a year trashing the other as an illegitimate, foreign socialist intent on destroying capitalism and the American system of government. Now that it’s an election year, they’re really prepared to get nasty.
Last February, after the president was urged to continue his bipartisan outreach, Obama said, “Well, I will certainly do that … because I’m just a glutton for punishment. I’m going to keep on talking to Eric Cantor. Someday, sooner or later, he’s going to say, ‘Boy, Obama had a good idea.’”
It’s a nice idea that’s never going to happen, but the president at least gets points for persistence.
