If you ask the Republicans, President Obama is either not schmoozing them enough or — in the case of Reince Priebus — is schmoozing too much.
“I’m glad to see that as he enters his fifth year in office, President Obama is finally trying to reach across the aisle in the form of dinners with Senate Republicans. However, I would like to offer some advice. Since the president has been complaining loudly about the cutbacks they’ve had to make at the White House—including tours for schoolchildren—due to the sequester, it only seems appropriate that they avoid the considerable security expenses of dining at an upscale restaurant,” said RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. “Instead of eating out as the president and senators did last month, I suggest they eat in. With their budgets tight in the struggling economy, many families are doing exactly that. It’s only fitting our leaders do the same with the government facing such a large budget deficit.
“In fact, I’d like to offer to order pizza for them and have it delivered to the White House. I know I’m not invited to dinner, but as RNC Chairman I’m happy to do my part to foster a spirit of bipartisanship if it means we can tackle the debt and deficit—and achieve real spending and tax reform. If we’re lucky, maybe the pizza will serve to illuminate an important economic point for President Obama: instead of redistributing the slices, the best way to make everyone happy is to make the pie bigger. It’s as true for dinner as it is for economic growth and opportunity.”
Sure. Let’s show our love of economic growth and opportunity by super-sizing that pizza. How about a Big Gulp to go along with it? For the Idiocracy.
Given that the president will be dining with GOP Senators at the White House rather than at an “upscale restaurant” which, undoubtedly, Priebus’s colleagues will be dining at the following day, the RNC chairman’s statement issued this morning has accomplished little other than to make Mister Priebus look petty and ridiculous.