By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - A couple of times on Tuesday, President Barack Obama was not sure where he was supposed to go as he ducked in and out of meetings on Capitol Hill to talk up his economic stimulus plan.
'I never know where I'm going any more,' he said with a laugh as he was about to get on an elevator but was told by an aide that he had to go elsewhere in the maze-like building.
But Obama, a first-term Democratic senator from Illinois when he was elected president in November, moved easily in the corridors of power on his first trip back to his old haunts since moving into the White House a week ago.
After eight years in which Republican President George W. Bush rarely talked to the opposition party during occasional visits to the domed Capitol, Obama embraced them in his quest for votes for his $825 billion stimulus plan and in his bid to change the often bitter partisan tone in Washington.
He may not have won many converts for his economic plan, but Republicans appreciated the gesture.
John Boehner of Ohio, the top Republican in the House of Representatives, said members of his party still had differences with Obama after their talks with him, 'but I think our members enjoyed the conversation; I think the president enjoyed the conversation.'
Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the top Republican in the Senate, described the talks with Obama as a frank exchange of views.
'He stayed for a very lengthy period of time, which my members appreciated,' said McConnell who, like Boehner, has some big problems with the stimulus plan. 'I think everyone was very pleased with the level of candor, the desire to look for bipartisan solutions.'
QUICK RISE
It was not long ago that Obama was the up-and-coming senator from Illinois, being shepherded around by fellow home-state Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, and gaining prestige for a well-received speech to the Democratic National Convention in 2004.
But he was far down on the leadership ladder back then and other big-name senators were vying against him for the White House -- Democrats Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden and Republican John McCain.
He beat them all. Obama put two of those three on his team -- Clinton as secretary of state and Biden as vice president.
And he has been busy wooing McCain, who lost the November election to Obama and does not seem to have completely recovered, declining to answer reporters' questions with a 'good to see you' as his elevator door closed.
Larry Sabato, a political science professor at the University of Virginia, said Obama so far is showing a completely different attitude toward dealing with the opposition party than Bush.
'Bush claimed that he was a 'uniter, not a divider,' but I think after 9/11 (the Sept. 11 attacks) he pretty much wrote the Democrats off,' Sabato said.
Sabato said Obama reminds him of Lyndon Johnson, a 1960s Democratic president who had been Senate majority leader and had a 'come let us reason together' approach.
'I think Obama is determined to try to fulfill his campaign pledge to reduce the level of acidic partisanship,' he said. 'He's going to give it a try.'
Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said it helped that Obama was familiar with Capitol Hill. 'I think that the beauty of this arrangement is that he knows the Hill very well,' Manley said.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama would be back on the Hill. 'It may be the first in our seven-day-old presidency, but I can assure you it won't be the last time the president goes up to talk to members of Congress.'
(additional reporting by Thomas Ferraro and Susan Cornwell, editing by Vicki Allen) Keywords: OBAMA/TONE (steve.holland@reuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - A couple of times on Tuesday, President Barack Obama was not sure where he was supposed to go as he ducked in and out of meetings on Capitol Hill to talk up his economic stimulus plan.
'I never know where I'm going any more,' he said with a laugh as he was about to get on an elevator but was told by an aide that he had to go elsewhere in the maze-like building.
But Obama, a first-term Democratic senator from Illinois when he was elected president in November, moved easily in the corridors of power on his first trip back to his old haunts since moving into the White House a week ago.
After eight years in which Republican President George W. Bush rarely talked to the opposition party during occasional visits to the domed Capitol, Obama embraced them in his quest for votes for his $825 billion stimulus plan and in his bid to change the often bitter partisan tone in Washington.
He may not have won many converts for his economic plan, but Republicans appreciated the gesture.
John Boehner of Ohio, the top Republican in the House of Representatives, said members of his party still had differences with Obama after their talks with him, 'but I think our members enjoyed the conversation; I think the president enjoyed the conversation.'
Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the top Republican in the Senate, described the talks with Obama as a frank exchange of views.
'He stayed for a very lengthy period of time, which my members appreciated,' said McConnell who, like Boehner, has some big problems with the stimulus plan. 'I think everyone was very pleased with the level of candor, the desire to look for bipartisan solutions.'
QUICK RISE
It was not long ago that Obama was the up-and-coming senator from Illinois, being shepherded around by fellow home-state Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, and gaining prestige for a well-received speech to the Democratic National Convention in 2004.
But he was far down on the leadership ladder back then and other big-name senators were vying against him for the White House -- Democrats Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden and Republican John McCain.
He beat them all. Obama put two of those three on his team -- Clinton as secretary of state and Biden as vice president.
And he has been busy wooing McCain, who lost the November election to Obama and does not seem to have completely recovered, declining to answer reporters' questions with a 'good to see you' as his elevator door closed.
Larry Sabato, a political science professor at the University of Virginia, said Obama so far is showing a completely different attitude toward dealing with the opposition party than Bush.
'Bush claimed that he was a 'uniter, not a divider,' but I think after 9/11 (the Sept. 11 attacks) he pretty much wrote the Democrats off,' Sabato said.
Sabato said Obama reminds him of Lyndon Johnson, a 1960s Democratic president who had been Senate majority leader and had a 'come let us reason together' approach.
'I think Obama is determined to try to fulfill his campaign pledge to reduce the level of acidic partisanship,' he said. 'He's going to give it a try.'
Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said it helped that Obama was familiar with Capitol Hill. 'I think that the beauty of this arrangement is that he knows the Hill very well,' Manley said.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama would be back on the Hill. 'It may be the first in our seven-day-old presidency, but I can assure you it won't be the last time the president goes up to talk to members of Congress.'
(additional reporting by Thomas Ferraro and Susan Cornwell, editing by Vicki Allen) Keywords: OBAMA/TONE (steve.holland@reuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.