STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Monday, 11 March 2013

[Demeter]

9. Obama's Charm Offensive Could Work, Lawmakers Say

EMPHASIS ON THE OFFENSIVE PART, FOR DEMOCRATS AND POPULISTS EVERYWHERE..

http://news.yahoo.com/obamas-charm-offensive-could-lawmakers-201206589--abc-news-politics.html

President Obama's newly initiated charm offensive with Republicans just might work as he tries to resolve the recently enacted sequester cuts and attempts to avert another budget showdown near the end of the month, lawmakers on Capitol Hill said today.

"If we're going to really get to an agreement, this is a good step," Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told George Stephanopoulos on ABC News' "This Week." "You have to start meeting with people. You have to start developing relationships. You've got to spend a fair amount of time figuring out what we agree on first."

"I'm welcoming with open arms. I think the president is tremendously sincere. I don't think this is just a political change in tactic," Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who called the president "my friend" said on NBC's "Meet the Press.

"It's time to start leading, and the way you do that is quit poking your finger in people's eyes and start building relationships, and I think he's got a great chance to accomplish a big deal," he said. "But, you know, you've got a lot of scabs and sores on people that it's going to take a while for that to heal."

Coburn and Johnson were among the 12 Republican senators who dined with Obama at the Jefferson Hotel earlier this week - the president's first overture in his GOP courtship. On Thursday, he sat down for lunch at the White House with Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget committee, and Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the ranking Democrat on the committee, a meeting Ryan described as his first ever detailed discussion with the president.

"This is the first time I've ever had a conversation with the president lasting more than, say, two minutes or televised exchanges," Ryan said on "Fox News Sunday." "I've never really had a conversation with him, on these issues before. I am excited that we had the conversation. We had a very frank exchange. We come from different perspectives. I ran against him in the last election."

MORE SPEW FROM THE GOP AT LINK