North Carolina’s senior senator, Republican Richard Burr, had some good things to say about President-elect Barack Obama in this Politico story:
Behind the scenes, Obama and his team are … courting prominent Republicans and conservatives through frequent phone calls, e-mails and private sit-downs.
The selection of evangelical pastor Rick Warren for the inaugural invocation and Obama?s dinner with right-of-center writers at George F. Will?s home drew significant buzz. But the transition also has quietly reached out to other prominent figures atop the Southern Baptist Church, Charles Colson?s Prison Fellowship Ministry and the Jewish Orthodox Union.
?I think he?s done an extremely good job so far,? said Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who received a call from the president-elect last week. ?On both the quality of his nominees and the contact that he personally or his skeleton staff have had with members on the Hill ? I think they?ve done just an exceptional job at that.?
Burr, who declined to share what he and Obama spoke about, said it helps to have one of the Senate?s own now in the White House, a rare thing in the modern presidency.
?One, you?ve got to understand that we?re friends. Two, the way he interacted with us as a member of the Senate ? he hasn?t forgot that. In the early stages now he still has a cell phone and BlackBerry and he?s using them.?
All fine and good. But to quote a trite phrase, talk is cheap. Obama’s agenda leaves zero room for conservatives, even if he extends verbal olive branches from time to time. More to the point, his record in the Illinois Senate and U.S. Senate is hardly bi-partisan. Right-leaning lawmakers would be wise to look behind the charisma to where a damaging ideology lurks.
