Don't do it for the media

Sitting around a table is the last step in getting a deal done, not the first. After taking Republican senators out for date night last week, President Barack Obama is spending much of this week meeting with members of the House and Senate. It's part of an effort to help him pass his legislative agenda, but as at least one White House aide admits, it has more to do with appearances as it does with actually believing you can win over Capitol Hill with charm. The aide tells National Journal's Ron Fournier:

'This is a joke. We're wasting the president's time and ours,' complained a senior White House official who was promised anonymity so he could speak frankly. 'I hope you all (in the media) are happy because we're doing it for you.'

In case you don't have the unfortunate luck of knowing what Fournier has been writing about of late, he's a Grand Bargain enthusiast currently obsessed with convincing the world that Obama can win over Republicans as long as he's nice to them. It's the kind of argument that only a concern troll or a simpleton could embrace, but that raises the question: why does the White House seem to be embracing it?

Maybe they are embracing it to show that it won't work, but that seems like a fool's errand. The people that are pushing the "Obama should be nice" line of argument aren't any more likely to be won over by a "charm offensive" than are Republicans themselves. And even if they were, so what? Winning the beltway media's "Nicest and Most Reasonable" award has never passed a single piece of legislation.

There are two ways to move politicians. One way is to force them into a situation where they fear the political consequences of not doing things your way. The other way is to move them out office with an election. Obviously, in any scenario you have to compromise, but it's foolish to believe you can simply sweet talk your way into a deal. There's a reason that Republicans are always complaining when President Obama goes out and campaigns against Congress, and it's not because they wish he was back in D.C. chatting them up so they can get a deal done. They want him back in D.C. so they can say no to him.

None of this is rocket science, and clearly some people inside the White House understand it. Going forward, let's hope that they are the people who have the president's ear.