Obama, Romney break bread, extend olive branch
WASHINGTON — Their relationship seemed doomed from the start. It was mostly a long-distance affair conducted in public exchanges, tempered by occasional awkward gestures of warmth but more often singed by open hostility. It most likely ended, mercifully, Thursday over white turkey chili and Southwestern grilled chicken salad.
President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney ate lunch in a private dining room steps from the Oval Office, the seat of power they battled over for months, some might say years.
The meeting, a decadesold tradition between former rivals, put a bow on an otherwise ugly race marked by very few attempts to pretend the candidates liked each other. Until Thursday, that is, when a smiling Romney stopped by the White House.
The lunch date was, perhaps not surprisingly, the
Margin widens
Three weeks after the election, President Barack Obama is still adding to his margin of victory over Mitt Romney. A political analyst closely following the tally now projects that Obama will eventually best the Republican by about 5 million votes with 51 percent of the votes. winner’s idea. Obama announced his intentions in his victory speech, aiming to demonstrate bipartisan inclinations with the overture.
But the president, who never expressed respect for Romney’s political skills during the campaign, seemed to have trouble describing the purpose. Unlike some defeated candidates, Romney doesn’t hold public office and doesn’t represent a powerful constituency.
Obama suggested the former Massachusetts governor and business executive, who ran the 2002 Olympics, could act as an efficiency consultant.
The president, who once talked about building a “team of rivals” in his Cabinet, was not entertaining a Romneyappointment, his spokesman later confirmed.
The White House offered only the broadest description of their conversation: “The focus of their discussion was on America’s leadership in the world and the importance of maintaining that leadership position in the future.” The meeting ended with a vague promise “to stay in touch.”
Unlike past post-campaign meetings, this one did not include a media photo op. The White House later released its own photo: the men exchanging a handshake in the Oval Office.
Romney made no public comments Thursday. Neither did Obama.
The public may have to wait a while before it finds out what was said.
“That comes out in somebody’s memoir,” said presidential historian Douglas Brinkley.