Via the Political Wire: Obama Dines With Conservative Writers.
The dinner party was not a photo op, nor an announced event as the only way it was figured out that it was Will’s house was by looking up property tax records, and the identities of the dinner guests were ascertained via a photo through a window. The whole thing, from a reporting standpoint, is more paparazzi than White House Press Corps, but oh well.
This is interesting, if anything, because it strikes me as a noteworthy attempt at civility on the part of the president-elect. Now, I know enough about the way politics works to know that such civility is unlikely to last (remember President Bush inviting Ted Kennedy over to the House for movie night?). Still, this is a nice move, if not a politically smart one. If anything, it is probably a good way to launch one’s term: by being nice to those who are going to soon be criticizing you.
Marc Ambinder reports that this isn’t the only such party on the agenda:
Tomorrow, I hear Obama has another private meeting with non-Republican opinion columnists.
He further notes:
Ellen Moran, the incoming White House communications director, set these meetings up.Again — establishment opinion matters to the Obama communications team.
And it is really going to matter in the coming weeks and months as the stimulis package is constructed and sold to the public.
In regards to the dinner, this quip by Digby amused me: “Did he agree to do this without preconditions?”
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January 14th, 2009 at 9:13 am
[...] it’s harder to write mean things about people you’ve actually met and like. And, as Steven Taylor notes, the tone the chattering classes take “is really going to matter in the coming weeks [...]
January 14th, 2009 at 10:15 am
I cannot believe Obama met with these America hating, terrorist baby killers without any pre-conditions !
I am so disapointed in Obama.
January 14th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Obama will be a uniter, not a divider. He’ll be a welcome change from the divider and fool we’ve just had. Civility will return to a divided capital. It’s time for a toast!
January 14th, 2009 at 10:58 am
My hope is that these Republicans aren’t going to be “useful idiots” in Obama’s campaign to SEEM reasonable and centrist.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:57 am
I think this is a welcome change of direction for all involved. Although you may not always agree with others, it is never wise to presume that their viewpoint is invalid merely because it is not your own. Just as this new administration has pledged to implement smart diplomacy abroad, there certanly is a good argument to be made for using the same policy at home. All of these people who are named on the guest list are people you would want to converse with at any time on any subject because of their intellect.George Will was once asked what he would be doing if he couldn’t think and write and he said in effect, he could not imagine not doing what he does. I suspect this is true with the others. Band of Rivals indeed! Just remember the old addage ” I never learned anything while I was talking.”
January 14th, 2009 at 11:59 am
It’s not as though Obama met with Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. If you’ve been reading David Brooks’ columns during and since the campaign, you’d see that he’s quite smitten with Obama though he certainly isn’t aligned with him politically.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
OMG, Slap In The Face!!!
January 14th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Brooks and Kristol can jump ship to the Democratic Party as far as I am concerned. That is where they belong. I can keep an eye on Krauthammer.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
It’s an encouraging development.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
08ama said: “I cannot believe Obama met with these America hating, terrorist baby killers without any pre-conditions!”
+++++++++++++++++++++
Sounds like you are talking about the rabid pro-abortion left. I love it when the lefties have the whole stage to themselves. The next four years is going to be fun.
– Nietzsche is Dead
http://warskill.blogspot.com/
January 14th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
President Elect Obama must be very comfortable in is own skin. Meeting with four of the most brilliant conservatives in the country gives me more hope than anything I’ve read. If you could choose four conservatives who could speak for you, my guess is that this group would be right at the top. Obama may be that rare president who, in his heart, seeks to bring America together.
Sending a night with the “big four” could only leave him impressed.
January 14th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
“brilliant” ins’t exactly the phrase that comes to mind when i think of kristol(or krauthammer). –although i have to say that this move by obama comes as a surprise to me. from the outside, as well as from his writings it seems to me that he is willing to engage in discussion with anyone who is willing to discuss. if i weren’t used to cycism in politics, i would’ve been inclined to believe to believe that will handle things differently.
PS: if you consider these men, any of them, to be RINOs, please move to alaska, you have lost your right to live among sane people.
January 15th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Pres.-elect Obama is a much bigger man than myself. I wouldn’t be giving them the time of day. Obama may be trying to bring the country together, but these characters were trying to tear America apart with their rhetoric and vitriol. Has Krystol ever made a truthful statement? Although it may upset me, it makes the president elect even more impressive in my eyes.
January 17th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Instead of being relentlessly cynical, we should all try to figure out our mutual survival. At this point we’re all on the same sinking ship and it will take everybody to pull us out. Thanks to Bush (who managed to destroy the entire country in the span of 8 years) we will need every mind (conservative, liberal and in between) to arrive at a consensus as to how to save capitalism from the irresponsible extremes to which it has been subjected - from Reagan through Clinton and cresting tragically with George W. Bush. Wake up folks !