John McCain and Barack Obama took their first steps down the path of reconciliation – and potential cooperation – with a meeting Monday in Chicago. McCain, Obama carve out rocky alliance

CHICAGO – During his short time in the U.S. Senate, Barack Obama forged alliances with several Republicans, but the only relationship riddled with public drama was with John McCain, who pierced the norm of Senate collegiality in 2006 with a brusque letter accusing the freshman senator of “disingenuousness.”

Two years, one spat over an ethics reform bill and a tense presidential campaign later, former rivals who were never close are now trying to start anew.


Obama and McCain took their first steps down the path of reconciliation – and potential cooperation – with a meeting Monday at the president-elect’s transition headquarters in Chicago. After months of campaign combat, the men sat side-by-side, flanked by American flags and the confidants who brought them together: Obama’s incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and McCain’s friend Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina.

Both sides stand to benefit from the unusually early show of comity. For Obama, he can make good on promises to work across party lines and approach governing as a pragmatist – central tenets of his candidacy that were often called into question by Republicans. McCain, meanwhile, can rebuild his image as a bipartisan workhorse with the clout and skills of compromise to pull off big feats in the Senate.

The foursome smiled for the cameras during a photo opportunity and made small talk about football and the media. Obama joked that “the national press is tame compared to the Chicago press,” and called a reporter “incorrigible” for trying to lob more questions.

When asked if he would help the Obama administration, McCain replied, “Obviously.”

They spent half the time talking about “the need to change the way Washington works,” said an Obama advisor briefed on the hour-long meeting. Although they disagreed during the campaign over the way to tamp down special interest influence, they had a similar orientation toward Washington and plan to work together on changing the culture, the advisor said.

They also discussed the financial crisis, energy and national security, including closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay for enemy combatants – a position that both men hold.

“At this defining moment in history, we believe that Americans of all parties want and need their leaders to come together and change the bad habits of Washington so that we can solve the common and urgent challenges of our time,” Obama and McCain said in a joint statement. “It is in this spirit that we had a productive conversation today about the need to launch a new era of reform where we take on government waste and bitter partisanship in Washington in order to restore trust in government, and bring back prosperity and opportunity for every hardworking American family. We hope to work together in the days and months ahead on critical challenges like solving our financial crisis, creating a new energy economy, and protecting our nation’s security.”

The dynamic of their relationship won’t be known for some time, but associates to both men said they were committed to trying to make it work.

The meeting itself came together rather easily, aides said, with McCain and Obama initially discussing a sit-down during their phone conversation on election night. Obama followed up with Graham during a routine post-Election Day courtesy call, and Graham called on Emanuel to nail down details.

Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), an ally of Obama’s, said “both possess the capacity to rise above” the rancor of the campaign.

The Obama advisor added that the president-elect is ready to move on, saying “it was a heated and competitive race but he is good about when these things are over, he lets bygones be bygones.”

Steve Duprey, a close friend of McCain’s who traveled with him nearly every day, downplayed the disdain that the Arizona senator showed towards Obama, particularly in the final weeks of the campaign.

“Sure, they enjoyed taking it to each other, but it was in the spirit of a good, hard-fought campaign,” he said. “John McCain has shown willingness in the past to reach across the aisle and get stuff done, perhaps more than any other senator. President-elect Obama is going to need the help of John McCain to put this partisan, hard-fought election behind us and get important stuff done.”

But Obama and McCain cannot fall back on a relationship that predates the presidential contest. Their interactions in the Senate were lukewarm at best.

“It was non-existent but not good,” said a Republican familiar with their relationship. “He fell under the rule of ‘Who is this whippersnapper?’ ”

The worst turn came in 2006 during a very public spat between the two over ethics reform. McCain came away from a meeting with Obama and other senators convinced that Obama was committed to a bipartisan task force on ethics reform. The following day Obama wrote a letter to McCain saying that he supported the Democrats legislation over a task force.

McCain was livid and fired off an angry letter to Obama and copied it to reporters.

“I would like to apologize to you for assuming that your private assurances to me regarding your desire to cooperate in our efforts to negotiate bipartisan lobbying reform legislation were sincere,” McCain wrote in a sarcasm-laced letter to Obama in February 2006.

“As I noted, I initially believed you shared that goal,” the letter concluded. “But I understand how important the opportunity to lead your party’s effort to exploit this issue must seem to a freshman Senator, and I hold no hard feelings over your earlier disingenuousness. Again, I have been around long enough to appreciate that in politics the public interest isn't always a priority for every one of us. Good luck to you, Senator.”

Obama, in a letter still posted on his Senate website, responded with incredulity:

“I confess that I have no idea what has prompted your response. But let me assure you that I am not interested in typical partisan rhetoric or posturing.”

McCain is a 72-year-old former Navy officer who spent five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam and has served more than 25 years in Congress. Four years ago Obama, 47, was an Illinois state lawmaker who had just been elected to the U.S. Senate.

They are of two different generational mindsets: one that values seniority, putting in one’s time and awaiting your turn; and another that takes a “Why not?” approach that has less regard for seniority than innovation.

McCain allies have said in the past that the Arizona senator saw Obama as an upstart who was reaching for the top when he hadn’t put in his time.

They patched things up for the cameras, but some of that bitterness lingered and certainly carried through in the presidential campaign, where McCain cast Obama as a community organizer who was too green to lead the nation; and Obama pitched McCain as part of an old guard it was time to replace.

The meeting of the two formal rivals, followed by pledges to work together, underscores the unusualness of this election.

President Bush made a quick courtesy call to Al Gore in 2000, but didn't sit down with John Kerry in 2004. Bill Clinton traveled to the White House in 1992, but that trip was to discuss transition matters. And Clinton met Bob Dole in late December 1996 in the Oval Office for about an hour. Clinton gave Dole American flag cufflinks and the White House Christmas ornament. Dole gave Clinton a gift from his dog - a stocking full of cat treats for the Clinton's cat, Socks.

Presidential historian Robert Dallek pointed out that John F. Kennedy, a leader Obama has been compared to, met with his former Republican challenger, Richard Nixon, after winning election in 1960.

“Not that it led to very much,” Dallek said, adding that such meetings are not commonplace. “I wouldn’t say it’s fairly customary.”