Fox News’ Martha MacCallum asked White House spokesman Josh Earnest Thursday morning a question bugging many of her viewers: what took so long for Obama to offer to sit down one-on-one with House Speaker John Boehner and GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell?
“The president said, I’ll play golf with John Boehner, I’ll have a drink with Mitch McConnell, and the instant things we got back from viewers were, what took so long? Why didn’t that happen a long time ago? Why would the president just now come to that conclusion?” asked MacCallum.
Noting that Obama played golf with Boehner four years ago, Earnest said that the president is “interested in trying to build some relationships with members of Congress.” He added that the American people want more than just a meeting between him and the GOP leaders.
“If there are things the president can do differently to make sure that we are getting results for middle class families, for the American people, then he’s willing to change tactics to do exactly that,” said Earnest. “If that means another round of golf with Speaker Boehner … then he’s willing to do that. If it means sitting down at the table and enjoying some Kentucky bourbon with Mitch McConnell, if that’s going to advance our ability to find common ground among Democrats and Republicans the president will do it as often as is necessary.”