WASHINGTON — The encounter Friday between President Barack Obama and House Republicans proved to be riveting theater. The question is whether it will be remembered as a moment that began to ease the tensions between the parties or an asterisk in an era of polarized politics.
Obama and House Republicans delivered 90 minutes of sharp but civil give-and-take, a spirited debate on both the substantive differences that divide Republicans and Democrats and a frank discussion about the breakdown of government in the age of the permanent campaign.
Rarely has there been such an encounter between a president and the opposition party and certainly never on national television. It was the antithesis of the kind of snarling exchanges that often pass for political dialogue.
“The main benefit is that greater interaction builds a measure of trust between the president and congressional Republicans,” said John Fortier of the American Enterprise Institute. “Trust opens up possibilities for collaboration on some future issue with a more bipartisan character.”
In the short run, there was plenty of scorekeeping by partisans — and reason for both sides to feel good about what happened at the House GOP retreat in Baltimore.
For Obama, trying to re-establish his standing with the American people after a difficult first year in office, it was the opportunity to rebut his opponents’ criticisms while prodding them to abandon their rigid opposition to his major initiatives and begin to cooperate. White House officials were ecstatic with his performance.
For House Republicans, it meant having the president acknowledge on national television that they have ideas of their own. The office of House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio issued a release Saturday morning that said, in part, “The president himself helped put to rest once and for all baseless claims by members of his own administration that Republicans are the ‘party of no.’ “
Ultimately, the event might have been most beneficial for Obama, who badly needs a boost. He has emerged as the most polarizing first-year president in history. In that year, unemployment hit 10 percent, his health care initiative failed to pass Congress and his poll numbers eroded.
On Friday, Obama reminded his opponents of the singular power of the presidency, delivering a performance that easily eclipsed his State of the Union address.
He was knowledgeable about GOP counterproposals. He was robust in his rebuttals without being peevish. He may not have won over his critics, but he was able to sound the call for bipartisanship.
