For much of the spring, President Obama has made a concerted effort to reach out to congressional Republicans, hoping to lay the groundwork for improved interpersonal connections, which in turn, the theory goes, could help lead to more bipartisan agreements.
To this end, President Obama has taken Republicans out to dinner, invited Republicans over to the White House for lunch, and dispatched top aides to connect with Republican leaders in more informal settings. And as summer approaches, how's the charm offensive working out?
Senate Republicans who shared laughs with President Obama over dinner at the Jefferson Hotel in March are grumbling there has since been little follow-through from him on deficit talks.
They say the White House has not set up a process for negotiating controversial reforms to Social Security, healthcare programs and the tax code, and that absence of basic organization has stalled negotiations.
"We've made no progress. None," said a GOP senator who had dinner with President Obama earlier this year. "There's no process in place. Right now we just have 20 Republican senators meeting and talking to themselves."
Other Republicans added that the president has "become distracted" by the so-called "scandals" they've trumpeted to undermine the White House, despite the fact that the pending controversies are unrelated to the White House.
This is all a bit much. Soon after Obama started reaching out to GOP lawmakers in a concerted way, Republicans killed legislation intended to prevent gun violence and blocked some of Obama's cabinet nominees. Soon after Obama said he'd accepted chained-CPI -- a Republican idea -- as part of a larger budget compromise, many congressional Republicans condemned their own proposal. Soon after that, Republicans announced their intention to create another debt-ceiling crisis in the fall. To date, not a single GOP leader has pointed to a single policy concession he or she is willing to accept as part of a larger compromise.
And Republicans believe it's the president's fault for failing to do more hand-holding?
As for the notion that Obama has been taken off his game by scandal, this too seems like an odd complaint. In effect, it seems GOP officials are complaining, "Republicans are disappointed that the president has been distracted by the distractions thrown at him by Republicans."
If GOP leaders are ready to take the next step towards a budget deal, they should say so. Obama has already reached out and accepted concessions; if Republicans are looking for progress, they'll have to step up, too.
