At the very end of a column today on the end of a Sally Quinn column in the Washington Post on Washington socializing, complete with chin-tugging about how the capital is too partisan, David Carr [1]attached this ending:
Some of President Obama's travails have been attributed to a Washington that is not just polarized politically, but also socially. In an article by Mark Leibovich in The New York Times, Eric Cantor, the House Republican whip, was asked how he might pass the time if he were invited to a White House social occasion.
"I would take the opportunity to press the president on why he thinks it's better to ignore the public," he said.
Thanks for that charming bit of repartee, congressman. Now would you pass the crudités?
But Carr doesn't acknowledge that the Leibovich article [2] (from last Thursday) noted Obama hasn't exactly been on a charm offensive.
Mr. Boehner and Mr. Obama have not held a single one-on-one meeting since Mr. Obama's election, according to Mr. Boehner's office. Representative Eric Cantor, the House Republican whip, has described Mr. Obama to colleagues as "thin-skinned" and quick to bring up Republican criticisms of him.
Even the sentence Carr used was a little out of context, since Leibovich noted Obama didn't make an effort to know GOP leaders during his four years in the Senate:
Mr. Obama, who barely knew the leaders of the other party when he served in the Senate, seems to have lost any expectation that investing a lot of quality time with Republican leaders would help build a better relationship. (To wit: when asked in an interview what he would say to the president in a private meeting, Mr. Cantor said, "I would take the opportunity to press the president on why he thinks it's better to ignore the public.")