Obama to (Sort of) Meet With GOP Leaders

After weeks of delays, Barack Obama will finally sit down with Republican leadership this morning, but it won’t be the relaxed beer-summit-esque session he’d hoped for. Instead, Obama, accompanied by Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and others will meet with Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, and others for somewhere between 60 and 90 minutes—which, Politico observes, is “scarcely enough time for Obama and the congressional leaders, all known for their prolixity, to make their opening statements.”

Robert Gibbs admitted yesterday that what had once been envisioned as a productive negotiating session was now seen as “the beginning of a longer-term conversation,” in which little would be agreed upon. Republicans have shown little willingness to make a deal during the lame-duck session. “I’m hopeful we’re going to hear from the president a willingness to reflect what the people spoke on Nov. 2,” says Eric Cantor, “and that is, ‘stop it.’” (More Barack Obama stories.)