Updated with new information.
Barack Obama attended a dinner party Tuesday night exclusively with some of the GOP’s leading conservative pundits - Will, Kristol, Brooks and Krauthammer. What could they possibly have talked about? Read more below, see some photos, and watch an awesome video!
Barack Obama
UPDATED 1/14/09: As mentioned briefly in this post, there were rumors flying everywhere yesterday that Rush Limbaugh had attended this Obama Nosh. Today on his program, Rush explained he flew to DC to have a private lunch with George W. Bush and attended the Medal of Freedom ceremonies for Blair, Howard and Uribe. Rush says he didn’t even know the dinner had been planned. All I know is that if Rush had been there, it would have been horrifying for both the right and the left.
The lovestruck press pool that follows Barack Obama around everywhere has reported that he left his temporary digs at Washington DC’s Hay-Adams hotel Tuesday evening and arrived a short time later at conservative columnist George Will’s home for dinner in the Maryland suburb of Chevy Chase.
It seems an intrepid press pool photographer shot photos of conservative Bill Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard; conservative stalwart Charles Krauthammer of the Washington Post; and David Brooks, an occasionally conservative columnist at the New York Times attending the party too. Notably absent however, was our own McCain from Right Pundits.
There was even a rumor circulating the internet that Rush Limbaugh, who was unexpectantly absent from his show today for ‘a meeting in DC’, was there! Alas, that rumor was just that… a rumor.
Will The One’s so-called ‘charm offensive’ work against conservative push-back? Or, is there power in hearing about hopechangery from the horses’ mouth so to speak? I, for one, don’t know what they were thinking.
Barack Obama Photos
Mo’s ‘Why I am A Conservative Republican’ Video
Photos: wenn.com
January 14th, 2009 at 2:06 am
From the names here, I think you mean neo-conservative columnists
(or perhaps neoliberal)
Then again, I don’t know that I’d consider Charles Krauthammer a neoconservative; he has some anti-neocon/anti-liberal internationalism views, which I have positively cited before. (Ah… I still need to do that “Charles Krauthammer: An Appreciation” blog entry… now more than five years late!
Thanks for providing this information; perhaps it’s a sign of things to come (though I don’t know on which end…). We shall see… what we will see.
January 14th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Larry Kudlow’s comments on the dinner are now posted on Drudge.
Bottom Line:
1. Conservatives who believe policy decisions ought to be based primarily on reason and logic, should be pleased by this gathering.
2. Conservatives who believe that ideology should drive decisionmaking, and who therefore unbendingly focus their efforts on the election of politicians those who share their beliefs, should be very worried.
competent governing more than
January 14th, 2009 at 11:09 am
Hmmm…
These guys can be very damaging to him in the future.
That leaves me thinking that Obama is probably trying his best to instill a little positive impression on them knowing that when he does screw upthese guys wont be too hard on him.
Krauthammer is one the most dynamic and logical minds I’ve ever witnessed and would be the last person I would want to be on the recieving end of if I were Obama making mistakes.
January 14th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Perhaps he’s just trying to create relationships with mouthpieces of the right, so when the rest of the political right attacks him they’ll tend to go a little softer on him, thereby giving him some cover with the general public.
Imagine the first bruhaha, and one of these guys goes a little wishy washy in criticizing him. He can then claim that it’s only the extremists and he has his token right wing nut to mitigate the damage.
January 14th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Yea, its a pre-empted cover my a$$ deal.
January 17th, 2009 at 9:23 am
No need to be so cynical. It was a good intentioned get together between two elite groups really…the media elite a little right of center and the governmental ruling class slightly left of center. So they ate together and chatted. George Will is pretty precise with his words and feels duty bound by working within the truth of matters, so he an Obama would be a good match. He has an interest in US history and Obama US constitutional law and a penchant for precise definitions. I think Will would make a good source of future consultations and discussions as he isn’t simply another blind placard ideologue. Plus he’s hooked into the global ABC news machine. Obama is showing some smarts and at the same time consulting with another intelligent mind.