Obama and Boehner seem to get along fine; politics is the problem

Source: LA Times

After weeks of private phone calls and public posturing, the Ohio Republican quietly ducked into the White House on Sunday for his first one-on-one meeting with the president since mid-2011. The goal this time: forging a deal to avoid $500 billion in tax increases and spending cuts set to take effect in early January.

The face-to-face session came and went without a flood of leaks or post-meeting spin by either camp. The two sides even issued identical brief statements saying "lines of communication remain open," a far cry from Boehner's public complaint last Friday that prospects for compromise were "nowhere."

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"Personality has never been a roadblock to an agreement," said Brendan Buck, a Boehner spokesman. "The two men get along very well."

White House spokesman Jay Carney returned the sentiment: "The president likes and respects Speaker Boehner and looks forward to continuing to work with him."


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-boehner-20121211,0,2359389.story?track=lat-pick

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I think this news is important in that it undermines a corporate media talking point that the reason why Republicans are so obstructionist is because President Obama does not schmooze them enough. The corporate media typically then engages in collective amnisia by noting how great of schmoozer President Clinton was while ignoring the fact that this did not stop the Republican House from impeaching him.

The reason why Republicans are so obstructionist is because they are choosing to engage in obstructionism and its their fault, not the fault of Democrats, including the President.