No longer foes but not yet allies, US president-elect Barack Obama and Senator John McCain buried their bitter campaign in public smiles and searched for common ground in private on Monday, discussing possible collaboration on climate change, immigration, Guantanamo Bay and more.
The 40-minute session at Obama’s transition headquarters, their first meeting since Nov. 4 when Obama handily defeated McCain, was just the latest effort by the president-elect to heal wounds from the long and bitter campaign and seek help from his former rivals.
On Thursday, he quietly met with Senator Hillary Clinton, his toughest rival for the Democratic nomination and now a possible choice for secretary of state.
McCain’s meeting with Obama was less furtive, and aides to both men said no Cabinet post is envisioned for the Arizona senator.
Obama has said he plans to invite at least one Republican to join his Cabinet.
Like Clinton, McCain knows that returning to the 100-member Senate will impose limits and frustrations after the heady two years of the presidential campaign. For both, a friendly relationship with the new president might open new opportunities in Congress or elsewhere, though they exchanged harsh words not long ago.
For Obama, cordial ties to two of the nation’s most famous and successful politicians might smooth the launch of an administration confronting an economic crisis and two wars.
Before Monday’s meeting, Obama said he and McCain would talk about “how we can do some work together to fix up the country.”
He thanked McCain “for the outstanding service he’s already rendered.”
In a joint statement after the meeting, they vowed to work together to reform government and promote bipartisanship in Washington.
Aides familiar with Monday’s meeting said the two men spoke of working together on the issue of the dangers of climate change and a need to ease US dependence on fossil fuels, as well as on comprehensive immigration revisions, an effort McCain helped to spearhead in the Senate in 2006. The measure collapsed, and Obama will face difficult decisions in how far to push changes in immigration laws in a Congress dominated by Democrats.
They also discussed the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, which both men have criticized and Obama has vowed to close.
Obama also praised a proposal McCain has championed to establish a commission to reform “corporate welfare,” aides said.
They did not discuss specific legislation, the aides said. But Obama’s incoming chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, and South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a close McCain friend and adviser, were expected to discuss a joint legislative effort. Emanuel and Graham participated in the meeting.
Obama and McCain sat for a brief picture-taking session with reporters. They were heard briefly discussing football, and Obama cracked that “the national press is tame compared to the Chicago press.”
When asked if he planned to help the Obama administration, McCain replied, “Obviously.”
After the meeting, the two issued a joint statement saying: “At this defining moment in history, we believe that Americans of all parties want and need their leaders to come together and change the bad habits of Washington so that we can solve the common and urgent challenges of our time.”
“It is in this spirit that we had a productive conversation today about the need to launch a new era of reform where we take on government waste and bitter partisanship in Washington in order to restore trust in government, and bring back prosperity and opportunity for every hardworking American family,” they said.
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