President Obama today heaped praise on his defeated rival, GOP nominee Mitt Romney, saying the former governor's record and ideas "could be very helpful" in shaping policy over the next four years
"My hope is, before the end of the
year… that we have a chance to sit down and talk," Obama told reporters in
his first post-election press conference.
But even as Obama extended something of
an olive branch - which some skeptics saw as disingenuous - Romney was
reportedly accusing the president of doling out "gifts" to minority
voters to curry their support for a second term.
"The President's campaign focused
on giving targeted groups a big gift-so he made a big effort on small
things," Romney told donors on a conference call, first reported by Maeve
Reston of the L.A. Times. "Those small things, by the way, add up to
trillions of dollars."
Romney claimed Obama had been "very
generous" to blacks, Hispanics and younger voters, according to the Times,
insisting that the policy decisions had been a decisive factor in high turnout
that tipped the scale against him.
"I am very sorry that we didn't win. I know that you expected to
win," Romney reportedly said. "We expected to win…. It was very
close, but close doesn't count in this business."
Several participants on the call
confirmed to ABC News the account and quotes presented by the L.A. Times.
Senior Obama campaign adviser David
Axelrod responded to the "gifts" remark by accusing Romney of
"still looking at America through that 47 percent prism."
"Mitt tells donors the takers did
him in," Axelrod wrote on Twitter, referencing Romney's remarks earlier
this year disparaging 47 percent of Americans as self-perceived
"victims" and government dependents.
The back and forth by suggested some lingering
ill-feeling on both sides after what was a bruising - often personal -
campaign.
On election night after both men spoke
briefly by phone, Obama told his supporters that he extended an invitation to
meet with Romney to demonstrate a spirit of bipartisanship. But today he
conceded he does not know whether Romney is willing to play along.
"He presented some ideas during the
course of the campaign that I actually agree with. And so it'd be interesting
to talk to him about something like that," Obama said. "There may be ideas
that he has with respect to jobs and growth that can help middle-class families
that I want to hear."
But Obama added, "I'm not either
prejudging what he's interested in doing, nor am I suggesting I've got some
specific assignment. But what I want to do is to is to get ideas from him and
see if there are some ways that we can potentially work together."
No comments:
Post a Comment