President Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders are slated to have their first extended meeting since the Vermont senator’s presidential bid upended the Democratic race to replace Obama.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest says the two will meet Wednesday in the Oval Office. Earnest says the meeting will be informal, with no set agenda.
Sanders has met with Obama at the White House on several occasions over the years, but the men aren’t close. Sanders’ main rival, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has dropped by the White House for meetings with the president several times since leaving the administration.
Earnest says the men first discussed the meeting at a holiday reception at the White House in late December.
Sanders’ visit comes as Obama has opened up about his thoughts on the race. In an interview with Politico published Monday, Obama showered praised on Clinton but was less effusive in discussing Sanders. He suggested the Vermont senator was a one-issue candidate and dismissed any comparisons to his own campaign against Clinton eight years ago.
This is good – shows respect both ways, and reminds Democrats that in the big picture we’re all on the same side.
Hmmm. I wonder if this is a post-Iowa, post-New Hampshire push towards black voters in the remaining primaries. Stay tuned.
I know what I think this is but I’m not going to say it–it would be too good to be true.
At the risk of pissing anyone off, here is an imagined Obama/Sanders meeting that I saw on another website:
Obama: Take the hold off my FDA nominee. No, you won’t be getting the list of Obama coalition voters in exchange for it either. Do the right thing.
Oh, and Planned Parenthood is not part of the establishment either, but now that you’ve alienated another large voting block - women - good luck in Iowa.
By the way, your six-page “health care plan” is not going to get us closer to reaching single-payer nirvana – let me break down the math for you and show you why.
Also, before you go, do you have some time for a crash course on pragmatism and how to actually get things accomplished? Your legislative record for the past 25 years is pretty thin.
I hope the president gives him some advice about the wisdom of ‘Under promise, over deliver’ – He and Hillary (and all pols really) could use it.