White House staffers say the only reason they chose the University of Richmond for President Barack Obama?s follow-up appearance today to his jobs speech is because it?s located 110 short miles from Washington ? not to poke House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Obama?s least favorite foil.
Yet no one in the West Wing is unhappy to see the presidential bully pulpit plop squarely in the Virginia Republican?s backyard. In their opinion, Cantor, who has emerged as the most powerful conservative spokesman in the GOP caucus, has made it his personal mission to harass, annoy, derail, mock and generally oppose the president and most of his policies.
Continue Reading?Congressman Cantor is a deeply partisan individual,? said Bill Burton, a former Obama deputy press secretary who now runs a pro-Democratic independent expenditure group. ?His abject need to be political has more to do with poisoning the atmosphere than anything else in Washington.?
Cantor politely declined Obama?s offer to attend the president?s address, citing a series of House votes. But a few hours after the president?s late-morning appearance in Cantor?s Richmond district, which Obama lost by only 8 points in 2008, Cantor will give his own speech at a building materials company in Henrico.
As competitive, self-assured and as prone to lengthy exposition as his commander in chief, Cantor simply gets on Obama?s nerves, according to sources. And the irritation is apparently mutual.
In an interview with POLITICO, Cantor said Obama spends a lot of time telling Republicans, ??I know your situation,?? often insinuating that Republicans are playing politics while he is the paragon of virtue.
?He always thinks he knows what we can do,? Cantor said Thursday. ?There?s plenty of alluding to too much listening to Fox News and Glenn Beck. There?s a regular injection of that stuff in the White House. ? If you don?t agree with him, you?re wrong and accused of being un-American.?
But Cantor takes every opportunity to say he respects Obama, but they just don?t see eye to eye on policy.
?I respect his intellect, his ability to express his ideas,? Cantor said at a lunch with reporters Thursday. ?He and I have certainly disagreed in many areas.?
At the same time, Cantor damns the president with praise for Vice President Joe Biden, a fellow second banana. ?I look at the experience I had working with the vice president,? Cantor said. ?And it actually, it was a much different experience working with the vice president than I?ve had working with the president.?
Of course, Cantor hasn?t exactly ?worked? with Obama all that much.
In early 2009, when other Republicans were cowed by Obama?s popularity, Cantor, then the minority whip, dispatched three of his top political operatives to a windowless office in the Capitol and tasked them with monitoring Obama?s every move with the intent of barraging reporters with negative tweets, press releases and even suggesting derogatory questions to ask administration officials.
All of the smacky-face was well within the bounds of the Washington game. But Cantor?s elbows have always been among the sharpest in politics ? even his GOP rivals have come to resent his aggressiveness ? a fact not lost on Obama?s own operatives who tend to take slights to their boss personally.
Back in 2009, Obama and Cantor staffers would mix amicably at D.C. watering holes, teasing each other like opposing football teams. In recent months, the encounters haven?t been nearly so cordial.
The personal interactions between the principals have alternated between frost and fireworks. Obama?s people say Cantor is addicted to posturing and is too ideologically inflexible to be a reasonable bargaining partner.
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