As President Obama and congressional leaders head into negotiations to solve the fiscal cliff, MSNBC “Hardball” host Chris Matthews suggested that Obama should show Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell little “respect,” calling him a “tree stump on the lawn you want to cut.”

“The president has to recognize that [John] Boehner is the Speaker of the House, that’s a constitutional office and must be respected,” Matthews said during the Washington Ideas Forum at the Newseum on Thursday.

“I don’t think he should give a whole lot of respect to McConnell. I mean, I think McConnell is a tree stump on the lawn you want to cut,” he continued, to laughter from the audience.

“I really think you got to just haul it out of there. I mean, the guy built his whole reputation on saying my number one legislative goal for the next four years is to get rid of this president – that is not the way I think we run a republic in a country that’s going to be unusually close in it’s division between left and right.”

President Obama meets with congressional leaders to discuss the fiscal cliff at the White House on Friday.

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