Obama offers 'ready ear' to Republicans
Posted: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 4:17 PM by Domenico Montanaro
From NBC’s Lauren Appelbaum
During a meeting with many of the nation's governors and Vice President-elect Biden, President-elect Obama offered Republican governors a "ready ear."
"I offer you the hand of friendship, the same commitment to partnership as I do my Democratic colleagues," Obama said during his opening remarks during the National Governors' Association meeting in Philadelphia at Independence Hall, a location known for bipartisan American efforts. "There is a time for campaigning, and there is a time for governing. And one of the messages that Joe and I want to continually send is that we are not going to be hampered by ideology in trying to get this country back on track."
Obama continued, "We want to figure out what works. That doesn't mean that we're not going to have some disagreements. But what it does mean is that if you can show me something you are doing that's working or if you tell me that this program or this regulation is hampering us from doing smart things that will advance the interests of our state, then you're going to have a ready ear."
Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) later responded to the sentiment during a press conference after the meeting -- first jokingly and then more seriously. When asked about partnering with people "you had a lot of unflattering things to say about," Palin quipped "Oh, and that was mutual of course, but, um, those unflattering comments."
She added, "But the campaign is over, and I so appreciate the meeting we had, and I am quite optimistic about moving forward in a bipartisan manner as to forge this partnership between states and the federal government. ... I appreciated also that President-elect Obama is looking for specifics from governors -- what it would be that we can do, what our states can offer."
During the meeting, which Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) called unprecedented, Obama sought input from all of the governors for his economic recovery plan. Both Biden and Rendell mentioned a failed infrastructure attempt in Japan, but pledged it would be different in the United States.
"Well, it's all about how rapidly -- how rapidly we can get these projects up and running," Biden said. "And many of you, if not all of you, have on the boards -- engineering has already been done. Plans that already are ready to go that can be kicked off very, very quickly."
Seeking input from the governors on programs the money could go to, Obama said, "My attitude is that if we're listening to the governors, then the money that we spend is going to be well spent. And it means that it's going to get working faster, and the people in your states are going to experience prosperity sooner."
During the press conference after the meeting, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) said there is "$136 billion of infrastructure projects ready to go, literally putting shovels into the dirt within a few months after the administration starts in Washington."
But some Republican governors still were hesitant. Gov. Mark Sanford (SC) -- the chair of the Republican Governors Association, who Rendell said raised this point with Obama during the meeting -- expressed concern about an increasing debt.
"Can we indeed solve a problem that was ultimately created by too much debt by adding more debt?" he rhetorically asked reporters. Afterward, Sanford and the RGA sent an economic policy letter to Obama calling for the new administration to focus on business through free trade, a competitive workforce and entrepreneurship, and to avoid further borrowing.
Palin, who on the campaign trail accused Obama of socialism and wanting to “spread the wealth," added, "We still have great concerns about perhaps the philosophy of, when much of the economic problem that we are facing today perhaps was caused by too much debt, that solving those problems will not come from incurring more debt. ... This is going to be a matter of reprioritizing federal dollars, though, and putting them to use in the wisest fashion for tax payers, for constituents."
Schwarzenegger called for individual state governments to live within their means before asking the federal government for help.
"We have to make cuts, and we have to raise taxes,” he said. “It's as simple as that. When we have done that, then we can go to the federal government, but right now we've got to get our own fiscal house in order."
