Romney And Obama To Meet For Lunch On Thursday

Oh to be a fly on the wall for this meeting:

WASHINGTON — Defeated Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will have lunch with President Barack Obama at the White House tomorrow, the administration announced Wednesday.

The meeting, in the Private Dining Room on the Residence level of the Executive Mansion, will be closed to reporters and photographers, the White House said in a brief statement.

(…)

In his news conference the following week, Obama said he looked forward to sitting down with Romney because “there are certain aspects of Governor Romney’s record and his ideas that I think could be very helpful.”

“It was a gracious invitation from the president, which Mitt Romney was glad to accept,” a top Romney aide said of the meeting.

No word on whether the White House chef will be preparing a generous serving of crow.

FILED UNDER: 2012 Election, US Politics, ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. Whitfield says:

    Tweedle dee and tweedle dum get together? Controlled candidates, controlled election!

  2. mantis says:

    Hopefully Romney will explain that it is not the president’s job–or the government’s–to serve African-Americans, Hispanics, young people, or women, and that by promising to do so Obama stole the election through bribery.

    But seriously, I understand the gesture, but what could Mitt Romney possibly have to offer here? It’s clear he holds most Americans in contempt and harbors a great deal of bitterness that those worthless moochers didn’t vote for him, and since he never had any details about what he would do as president if elected, of what use could he be? Car elevator recommendations?

  3. Rob in CT says:

    Is this typical? I honestly can’t recall.

  4. Bobo says:

    Prediction: Obama eats Romney’s lunch.

  5. Tsar Nicholas says:

    Obama: “How does it feel to be my bitch, Mitt?”

    Romney: “I don’t know, Geronimo, I’m too busy counting all of my hundreds of millions and screwing my gorgeous wife.”

    In any event, on a serious note, not that the foregoing couldn’t actually happen, I have to say that I’ve never heard of something like this. Perhaps there’s a history buff who’ll set me straight, but I dare say this is unprecedented.

    Reading between the lines one has to surmise that Obama might be planning to offer Romney some sort of business czar/consultant type of position, no? At a certain level that could make some sense. Thereby to give the liberal Democrat media the means by which they could portray Obama as being all concerned about businesses, job creation, bipartisanship, etc., while further marginalizing Romney.

    Democrats don’t take dumps without some sort of angle or plan.

    But if that’s not the case, and if this really is a lunch and skull session with no ulterior or Machiavellian purposes, then, shizzle, maybe Obama sufficiently has been mugged by reality that he’s actually developing degrees of maturity and humility. Stranger things have happened, I guess.

  6. Nikki says:

    “…and screwing my gorgeous wife.”

    “We use Ann sparingly right now,” [Romney] said, “so that people don’t get tired of her.”

    Yeah…that’s a man who is enjoying screwing his wife.

  7. anjin-san says:

    I guess Tsar has not noticed that Obama is also rich, and also has a gorgeous wife. And he as a prestige address that Romney was not able to buy for himself.

  8. matt says:

    @anjin-san: In all fairness there’sa lot of things Tsar hasn’t noticed..

  9. It’s obviously a plot to corrupt Romney by offering him a government meal. As we know from Romney’s campaign, all it takes is one tax payer funded bite to turn him into a mindless minion of the dreaded 47%

  10. Rob in CT says:

    Democrats don’t take dumps without some sort of angle or plan.

    Ah, The Hunt for Red October . Good movie (better book). Democrats, Russkies… what’s the difference, eh?

    Anyway, I do wonder what the point of this is. It’s one thing if Mitt was in government (like, say, McCain). But he’s not. He’s not exactly the standard-bearer for his party. So what is it? Some sort of warm fuzzy photo op thing? Gag me.

  11. Barfour says:

    I’ve seen a lot of people asking if this meeting is a first. Obama met with McCain a few weeks after the election in 2008, although it was under slightly different circumstances, Obama was not yet the president, the meeting took place in Chicago and I think it was organised by Lindsey Graham.

  12. Moosebreath says:

    @mantis:

    “I understand the gesture, but what could Mitt Romney possibly have to offer here?”

    If he could bring the Republicans along on any deal, it would be worth something. On the other hand, given the contempt which they have shown romney following Election Day, there isn’t even that.

  13. Sejanus says:

    @anjin-san: Dude, he’s a Republican. The Michele Obama that exists in his mind is a fat one who’s about as real as the version of Barack he’s railing against.

  14. al-Ameda says:

    Maybe Obama wants to know why a guy like Romney, who like so many conservatives, considers CA to be a decadent failed state, chose to live there instead of some conservative paradise like Dallas, Oklahoma City, or Columbia SC?

    Or maybe he wants a ride in the car elevator?

  15. Barfour says:

    Maybe Obama wants to know what’s in Romney’s tax returns that he is so unwilling to reveal. Maybe he’s still curious like some of us still are about those tax returns. While we’re on the subject, does Romney losing means that we’ll never know what he might be hiding in his tax returns?

  16. bill says:

    obama will probably ask mitt how to be successful at something and act like a real leader.

  17. anjin-san says:

    @ bill

    obama will probably ask mitt how to be successful at something

    I’m a little curious – what have you accomplished in life to be in a position to sneer at Obama?

  18. bill says:

    @anjin-san: enough, i can still look at myself in the mirror each day and know i made the world better than most people would, or even cared to. but enough about me, what has obama done- really?

  19. Franklin says:

    I hate to be negative and off-topic (or do I?), but neither Ann nor Michelle are “gorgeous”, unless the word no longer has any meaning. I find them easy on the eyes, but that’s about it.

  20. An Interested Party says:

    obama will probably ask mitt how to be successful at something…

    Actually, that should be the other way around, as the President was successful at beating Romney in the election…

    enough, i can still look at myself in the mirror each day and know i made the world better than most people would, or even cared to…

    Talk is cheap, and the alleged activities of anonymous people on the Internet really don’t mean all that much…

  21. bill says:

    @An Interested Party: romney’s resume makes obama look like a volunteer.
    and true, but you’ll never know me- your loss!

  22. An Interested Party says:

    romney’s resume makes obama look like a volunteer.

    Yes, I’m sure that it does stick in your craw that the community organizer wiped the floor with the big business tycoon…

    and true, but you’ll never know me- your loss!

    I’m absolutely devastated with that loss…