The governors react to Obama
Posted: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 6:32 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
Democrats, Republicans
From NBC's Mark Murray
ABOARD A TRAIN FROM PHILADELPHIA TO WASHINGTON, DC -- Democratic governors who attended this morning's meeting with Obama in Philadelphia said they were impressed with the president-elect's listening skills and engagement, as well as his commitment to make the states full partners in trying to solve the nation's economic troubles.
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer told First Read that Obama and Vice President-elect Biden said they wanted to hear the governors' opinions. "You hear that all the time in politics, but here is something I saw both Joe Biden and Barack Obama doing -- I saw them taking notes."
Schweitzer continued, "If you've been involved in political meetings, there is a dance that's done, and that's where the politician says, 'Now I want to hear your ideas.' And somebody will stand up and say something. [But] they don't take any notes, and they don't ask any questions back. So you're not even sure they're listening. But in this case, he was responding to each one of the questioners."
New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine added that Obama is a great listener. "Too often, executives are not listeners, and they think they have all the answers. He is anything but that."
Said Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, "I campaigned really hard for Barack Obama, and one of the things that I said continually as I campaigned is that we need a partner in the White House -- that we needed someone who would listen to the some struggles as we face at the state level. And I think today, even though it was the first meeting, today was really a testament to why I thought Barack Obama was the right person to be elected, because he is a person who listens, he is a person who engages."
"I just thought it was a wholesale success."
These interviews were conducted aboard an Amtrak train carrying more than a dozen Democratic governors who were leaving Philadelphia to head to Washington, DC. (Nathan Gonzales of the Rothenberg Political Report, who also was conducting interviews with these governors, dubbed it the "Gov Train." You can sing it out loud: "People all over the world, join hands. Start a Gov train, Gov train...")
And while it wasn't too surprising to see these governors praise a fellow Democrat, Republicans also had kind words for the president-elect.
Observers said that Republican South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford asked one of the tougher questions at the meeting when he expressed concern that an economic stimulus would continue to increase the size of the deficit. "I generally believe the course we are on is a real problem -- both near term and long term," he told First Read in an interview after the meeting.
But he also said that Obama and Biden were engaging. "I would give them great kudos," he said.
And Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, as mentioned earlier, said this after the meeting: "[T]he 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."
Of course, it's very early. And no doubt that things could quickly change. But right now, governors seem pleased about the prospect that they'll have a partner in the White House.
