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Thursday, December 9, 2010

Help! I need you Bill!

Former President Bill Clinton is to meet on Friday with President Obama at the White House for a postelection conversation about moving the agenda forward in a new political environment, according to a senior Democrat told of the meeting.

The meeting will be the first between the two men since the midterm elections last month, when voters handed Mr. Obama a political rebuke not unlike the one Mr. Clinton suffered sixteen years earlier.

Mr. Clinton famously moved to the center after his party’s midterm defeat in 1994, choosing to “triangulate” his politics in ways that allowed him to reach accommodations with Republicans even as he angered some of his liberal base.

This week, Mr. Obama reached a compromise with Republicans over a temporary extension of the Bush-era tax cuts. That decision has infuriated liberal Democrats, some of whom have accused Mr. Obama of mimicking Mr. Clinton’s tactics.

An aide to Mr. Clinton also confirmed the midafternoon meeting, which was initiated at Mr. Obama’s request.

On the likely agenda: the tax debate, the midterm election results and other issues.  (Continues...)

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