WP: Obama Charms Even a Night's Grand Ol' Party
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 15, 2009; Page C01
At one point during the party, CNBC's Larry Kudlow asked Barack Obama why he had hired several of the liberal guests who appeared on his program but left him Robert Reich. "So someone will stick up for me on your show," the president-elect replied.
During a three-hour dinner conclave at columnist George Will's Chevy Chase home Tuesday night, Obama charmed eight of the right's most prominent commentators, mixing small talk and policy debate in a move that mesmerized the media elite.
"Obama's a man who has demonstrated he is interested in hearing other views," said syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer, citing his post-election graciousness toward John McCain. "I guess he wanted to continue that -- as well as co-opting the vast right-wing conspiracy."
Besides Krauthammer and Kudlow, Will's guests were Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol, New York Times columnist David Brooks, Wall Street Journal Editorial Page Editor Paul Gigot, Journal columnist Peggy Noonan and Fox News commentator Michael Barone.
"He's making good on his promise to reach out to Republicans and conservatives and this post-partisan stuff, whatever that means," Kudlow said. "I was very impressed. He's a nice guy, terribly smart, well-informed, great smile. He just really engaged. He said he likes to know the arguments on all sides."
Barone called Obama "an attractive person in a small setting. It's harder to hate someone you've had close contact with and who has pleasant characteristics."
Obama balanced the scales yesterday by sitting down with 11 liberal commentators, including The Washington Post's Eugene Robinson, syndicated columnist E.J. Dionne, Maureen Dowd and Frank Rich of the New York Times, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, CNN's Roland Martin, and a conservative -- Atlantic blogger Andrew Sullivan -- who strongly supported his campaign. That meeting took place in the less intimate setting of Obama's transition office, and lasted a little more than an hour. Both sessions were decreed off the record....
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