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After President Obama treated 12 Republican senators to dinner, and had a nice lunch with House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the Beltway's reaction can be summarized in one word: Finally.
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who attended Wednesday's dinner, said, "This is the first step that the president has made to really reach out and do like other presidents in the past -- develop relationships and build trust." House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) added, "After being in office four years, he's actually going to sit down and talk to members."
And while plenty of pundits are echoing the sentiments, John Dickerson notes that those who insist this is a first for Obama are mistaken.
The aloof president is reaching out. That was the media's first gloss on the president's new robust effort at networking. He had finally embraced a Truth of Washington: You must engage your opponents and work with them. Finally he's showing leadership. Hooray! [...]
But this isn't the first time the president has tried.... Early in his first term, during negotiations over the stimulus package, he reached out to Sens. Grassley, Snowe, Collins, and Specter.... Obama may not be very good at trying to work Congress; he may only have done it in fits and starts, but you can't say he hasn't tried.
On the Recovery Act, Obama reached out to Republican lawmakers. On health care, the president not only reached out, he spent about as much time talking to Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins as he did talking to his own staff. In May 2011, Obama invited a bipartisan group to the White House, not for a meeting or policy negotiations, but as part of "a get-to-know-you effort in the spirit of bipartisanship and collegiality." In one of my very favorite moments of Obama's presidency to date, he even attended a House Republican retreat, engaging in a spirited Q&A.
But, my DC pundit friends will tell me, these outreach efforts don't count because they were in professional settings. What Obama needs to do is try personal outreach in informal ways and friendly settings. Except, the president has tried this, too, inviting members to the White House for Super Bowl and March Madness parties, and even golfing with Boehner.
Those who keep asking why Obama hasn't reached out before this week don't seem to be paying close enough attention.
So, why haven't the efforts paid dividends? Dickerson has some worthwhile ideas on the subject, but for what it's worth, I'll add some speculation of my own.
For one thing, the parties sharply disagree with one another -- there is no modern precedent for partisan polarization as intense as today's status quo -- and presidential outreach won't change that. Congressional Republicans tend to fundamentally reject just about everything the White House wants, believes, and perceives as true. Presidential face-time changes nothing.
For another, outreach may help set the stage for constructive negotiations, but compromise has been rendered all but impossible, not just because Republicans reflexively oppose everything Obama supports -- including, at times, their own ideas -- but also because the parties can't horse-trade when one side doesn't have much of a wish list.
Jonathan Bernstein had a very smart post on this yesterday.
In a world of divided government with two sensible parties, the logical compromise is that Republicans would trade the minimum wage hike -- a popular policy Democrats care more about than Republicans anyway -- for something which Republicans care about more than Democrats. That's what happened last time, when Republicans were able to extract tax cuts for business in exchange for supporting the increase, with the whole thing going into a larger bill that had plenty of things for both parties.
And this gets at a larger problem that explains a lot about dysfunction in Washington right now: Republicans have largely given up on developing specific policy goals while becoming more and more dedicated to opposing compromise on everything as some sort of fundamental principle.
Think about it: what is the Republican agenda item the party could trade for a minimum wage increase? What's the GOP policy request on health care, other than the dream of repealing the Affordable Care Act? What's their policy request on climate? Energy? Education? I mostly have no idea.
And neither do I. Sure, it's obvious Republicans have some vague policy preferences -- energy = drilling; education = vouchers -- and certainly stick to broad principles on tax cuts, but the traditional give-and-take process falls apart when transactional policymaking isn't a possibility.
Obama could host luncheons and dinners every day, but this larger dynamic won't budge.
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Obama-hate is the only thing Republicans can agree on, so there is nothing to trade. If you cut a deal with the McCain group, the Rubio/Cruz group will freak out, and so on...
Yes, but there's tremendous value in civility, even when your opposition openly declares an unwillingness to compromise. The more calmly you address the Teh Crazy, the more obvious and shrill they become.
Shoot, everyone knows that.
Yeah! I slap you in the face whenever you show up! And if you retreat I blame you for not socializing! And I can rely on the "Help-the-bullies"-faction in the media to join the choir!
Isn't that great? Can't wait to beat you up again!
Beltway Media just like FOX - neither will report the facts.
This is SUCH a made up story...and perpetuated by the Beltway media. Obama is either aloof, arrogant or lazy...he doesn't reach out, he 'campaigns' to much, it's a good 'first step' because he met them at a restaurant instead of the White House which is to 'partisan'. WAIT! The White House is the PEOPLE'S HOUSE and he's shutting off TOURS. And the media just follows the talking points. When did FOLLOW THE MONEY become a cliche? How about JOBS JOBS JOBS? F* you media for allowing this farce to continue.
Ha! So much venom for the liberal mainstream media. I love it!
"... Republicans have largely given up on developing specific policy goals while becoming more and more dedicated to opposing compromise on everything as some sort of fundamental principle."
Over the last decade the only "policy" has been to further the aims of the Plutocracy, anything other than "laissez-faire" for the rich & corporate is an anathema to them. And while they have shown NO willingness to craft policy positions that help the American people, the know-nothings that came in from the tea-baggers don't even understand what "their job" is other than being obstructionists.
Remember when Boehner canceled a White House meeting because of a "scheduling conflict?" And it turned out his scheduling conflict was a press conference to insist, again, on extending Bush tax cuts for the 1%? It was in late 2010, I think.
Bow down President Obama, bow down to the republican congress. Forget main street and just worry about Wall St. Cut entitlements and give the wealthy "job creators" what they feel they're owed. Do this and we'll work with you. Dont do it and we will destroy the economy and you right along with it.
Birthplace, religion, position on socialism, position on guns, "death panels", "association" with Bill Ayers, sexual orientation...
Is it any surprise that there would be lies about whether or not Obama has reached out to Republicans?
How many times do I have to tell you?!?!?! ALL Obama has to do is sit down and have a drink with Zombie-Tip 'n' Zombie-Ronnie and the Villagers will declare him One of Them.
It looks to me as though these Senators and Congressmen who are complaining about not being "reached out to" just need their egos stroked. "He hasn't asked us out to dinner." "To hell with the country." "Oh, nobody told us that he had a plan."
Poor babies.
You still refuse to drink the tea? It's Bad enough you won't wear the special sunglasses of the republican party but not drinking or at least sipping their special blend of tea is proof that you are unpatriotic!
Maybe I'm just cynical, but to me it looks like the a number of Republicans are seeing presidential outreach as a way out of the hole they've dug themselves into.
By tapping into this false meme of "Obama didn't schmooze enough", they can walk back from their no-compromise position without looking to their base like they've been beaten into submission by Obama and the general public. To anyone who actually believes Obama is the problem, it looks like Republican obstruction has actually worked, and they've forced him to come back, hat in hand, begging for forgiveness. That "moral victory" of sorts might be enough to convince tea partiers that it's not a mortal sin to actually negotiate with the President on these issues. The Congressmen are protected from a primary challenge, and Obama gets his policies (or at least a compromise) through, while only losing face with a bunch of teabaggers that already hate him anyway.
Dubba: I hope you are right. I just hope that the price of their co-operation does not come out of my SS check.
Am I the only one who recalls that when Obama was first sworn in (2009), he held a barbecue at the WH for Congressional Republicans -- and not a single one of them attended?
'cuz they were too busy meeting amongst themselves plotting on turning Obama into a one-term President. Give 'em props for not being hypocrits.
Once the the Beltway bubble dwellers proclaim something to be true, it becomes true simply because they say it is. Like the myth that Paul Ryan was a serious guy. Now, it's Marco Rubio.
Even when facts contradict the claim, as Steve has just shown, they still won't drop the meme du jour. Inside the bubble, they make their own reality. The beltway bubble boys still think the American public know and care about the Simpson-Bowles plan.
What planet have you guys been living on. A leader doesn't reach out. No wonder he can't get anything done. I'ts too bad he didn't have leadership experience before he was put into office.
Of course, a leader reaches out. He can afford to reach out because he is the leader. And a good leader continues to reach out even when he is slapped down by the children he is trying to lead. Pay attention. You might learn something.
Outreach? what outreach? the bird finger extended a little further out? These invites to the table are photo-ops and media tweaks. A little head fake on the way to slam dunk on these hapless republicans.
Odd, one word I certainly wouldn't associate with DC's Republicans is "hapless".
Gormless, now...
There was a story floating around that Steven Spielberg and the entire cast of lincoln came to a showing of the film at the white house and every republican invited didnt go who turns down an invite to that?
Very glad to see Obama starting to talk to Republicans after 4 years. This is what Clinton started to do in 1997 during his 2nd term and got results. There IS a benefit to electing a president for 2 terms: In his 2nd term he wants to establish a legacy and that almost always involves compromise with the opposite party. It's a good thing, because the entire country starts to feel that they are included in the political process. It no longer flows just to the most recent election victors.