Obama's meeting with the GOP today

Obama met with the GOP caucus today:

President Obama and the Congressional Republicans who have opposed him engaged in a lively and robust public debate this afternoon over health care, the economy and who was more to blame for the toxic atmosphere clouding the nation’s politics.

Mr. Obama visited the House Republican retreat here in an attempt to break through the partisan logjam that has helped stall his legislative agenda. What ensued was a remarkable encounter in which a president spoke to an essentially hostile crowd for an hour and half, sparring with the leadership of the opposition party in a way that is rarely seen in carefully scripted American politics.

I watched the whole thing and can highly recommend taking the time to do so, especially the question and answer portion. (Full transcript here.)

More from CBS; The Daily Dish compiled some reactions here.

Obama's opening statement:

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Here is the Q&A portion of the meeting, it's well worth watching.

Segment 1 (tax cuts and the 2008 stimulus bill)

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Segment 2 (more on tax cuts and questions about Obama's proposed discretionary spending freeze, a Constitutional line item veto, earmarks, and energy policy)

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Segment 3 (more on energy policy and earmarks, healthcare reform including Obama's failure to broadcast all of the healthcare reform bill negotiations on C-SPAN, and Republican pushback on being the "party of no")

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Segment 4 (healthcare reform including Obama's calling out the GOP for essentially accusing Dems of a "Bolshevik plot" (at the 4:40 mark))

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Segment 5 (more on healthcare reform, Obama's statements that he's read proposed GOP legislation and that legislative compromise is part of democracy, and a question from an Illinois lawmaker about Speaker Pelosi's willingness to work with Republicans on issues like free trade legislation (answered in segment 6))

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Segment 6 (Obama admits that he failed to bring the Democratic and Republican leadership together enough and answers a question about free trade; he pushes back hard on a question about the budget deficit to illustrate how false assertions prevent Democrats and Republicans from achieving anything together and sets the record straight on the spending history of the past ten years (continued in segment 7))

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Segment 7 (Obama finishes up his answer to a budget deficit question and explains why he disagrees with some Republican proposals for dealing with America's long-term deficit problems)

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