“President-elect Obama dined Tuesday with “some of his fiercest intellectual adversaries,” said Jonathan Martin in Politico, including conservative writers George Will, Charles Krauthammer, William Kristol, Larry Kudlow, David Brooks, Rich Lowry, Peggy Noonan, Michael Barone, and Paul Gigot. The off-the-record dinner was followed by a meeting on Wednesday with liberals and “prominent columnists” like E.J. Dionne, Maureen Dowd, and Frank Rich.” .. [TheWeek.com]

During the general election John McCain, Sarah Palin, and other prominent Republicans portrayed Obama as a liberal, and even as a socialist. They convinced many average Republicans that Obama would rule from the left and lead our nation into perdition.

Obama isn’t a fire-breathing radical, as his actions following his stunning victory have demonstrated. He selected liberals, moderates and even a couple of conservatives to serve on his cabinet. We can expect President Obama to lead from the center, bipartisanship will be the byword during his tenure in the White House.

During his eight years in office President Bush never had a dinner party with leading liberal intellectuals. Bush only consulted with neo-cons who shared vision of American=2 0hegemony spreading throughout the Middle East.

It bodes well for our country that Obama has the wisdom and self-confidence to meet with his conservative critics. I don’t agree with the conservative ideology of Obama’s dinner guests, but they are all intelligent and well-educated. Obama met with conservatives who are respected by everyone, and it’s worth noting that he didn’t extend an invitation to stupid blowhards like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh.

I’m sure that they didn’t sing Kumbaya before the dinner, and I’m sure that Obama was under no illusions that he would be able to persuade his conservative guests to become liberals.

Obama’s dinner was a bold statement that he will listen to all sides of an argument, and that’s a breath of fresh air coming after eight years of the imperial Bush presidency.

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