The tradition of lunch between a president and his challenger represents more than a friendly post-election meal; it represents the need for limits in politics and the quest for a common ground.
Let me finish tonight with that lunch President Obama and Mitt Romney had at the White House.
I am absolutely convinced that politics should have its limits. You fight over policy. You fight over competence and ethics and you try your best to keep the other side honest, smart and doing its job. And, when you can, you try to take away that job from the other side and try doing it better yourself.
But that’s the end of it. It’s not about hating people. It’s not about refusing to cooperate in the interests of the country.
Personally, I wish Romney had left things the way he did election night. He gave a great, even noble, concession speech, said all the right things, didn’t blame it on his running mate or his campaign staff. He praised them all and took the hit personally.
He then had to go mess it up by saying the president won by making “gifts” to the people who voted for him.
Anyway, it wouldn’t bother me a bit if Obama found a use for Romney, a role he could play for the country. He did do a good job on the Olympics. He does have talent in that area, putting organizations into fighting shape, just as President Obama has a proven strength in community organizing, a fact on vivid display in the election, especially on election day itself.
Harry Truman did it for Herbert Hoover. Maybe this president can do it for Mitt Romney—give him a job he can do well. It would set just the right tone for the second term.
We ain’t getting anything done ’til the two parties try to find some common ground out there.
