President Barack Obama and his election opponent Mitt Romney will have a private lunch at the White House on Thursday.
In his victory speech, as well as in remarks the week after winning reelection, Obama discussed sitting down with his former rival to discuss the major issues facing the country.
The meeting is the first opportunity for them to get together for a conversation, and will not be covered by the press, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
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On election night, Obama said that Romney had good ideas and his success both in business and public service could contribute ideas that will help move the country forward.
“I do think he did a terrific job running the Olympics,” the president said. “And you know, that skill set of trying to figure out how do we make something work better applies to the federal government. There are a lot of ideas that I don’t think are partisan ideas but are just smart ideas about how can we make the federal government more customer-friendly.”
A week after the election, Obama said he would let everybody calm after from the end of the campaign before setting up a meeting sometime before the end of the year. He said, however, that he imagined Romney could play a role in the government or some type of public service.
There were ideas Romney proposed during the election, Obama said, that “I actually agree with. And so it’d be interesting to talk to him.”
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