Obama Wants More Bipartisan Meetings

President Obama convened a meeting with House and Senate leaders of both parties today, he has invited lawmakers of both parties to a health care summit at the White House Feb. 25, and this morning he said he wants such meetings to be a regular thing.

"My hope is this is not going to be a rare situation--we're going to be doing these on a regular basis," Obama said this morning, speaking to reporters at the meeting with bipartisan congressional leaders.

"And I'm very thankful that everybody here has taken the time to come. I'm confident that if we move forward int he spirit of keeping in mind what's best for the American people that we should be able to accomplish a lot," the president said.


Summits and bipartisan meetings have turned out to be a hallmark of Obama's leadership style; he has renewed the push of late as the Democrats' loss of their Senate supermajority has forced him to reach for more bipartisan support.

Meanwhile, House Minority Leader John Boehner and Minority Whip Eric Cantor have expressed some doubts about the health care summit.