Obama and McConnell mentioned trade and tax reform as two possible areas of agreement. Obama, McConnell shaky cease-fire

President Barack Obama and incoming Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell agree on one thing: We’ve got to get stuff done.

They’ve talked on the phone already, and they’re planning lunch on Friday. At back-to-back press conferences on Wednesday, their talking points could have been borrowed from each other: We’re not going to agree on a lot of things, but let’s find the issues we can talk about.


Obama even said he’d be willing to “drink Kentucky bourbon” with McConnell and try other things to improve his terrible relationship with congressional Republicans, including “letting [House Speaker] John Boehner beat me at golf again.”

It almost sounded like they were ready to work together — unless you actually listened closely to the words that they said.

( Full 2014 election results)

Both Obama and McConnell mentioned trade and tax reform as two possible areas of agreement. Beyond that, Obama made it clear that the next move was up to McConnell and John Boehner. “What I’d like to do is hear from the Republicans to find out what they’d like to see happen,” Obama said at the White House, as if he hadn’t heard anything they had said for the last six years.

In Kentucky, McConnell declared that any executive actions by Obama on immigration reform would be “like waving a red flag in front of a bull.” Minutes later, at the White House, Obama made it clear that he’s moving ahead anyway — because until Congress passes a bill on its own, “what I’m not going to do is just wait.”

McConnell called Obama’s signature health care law a “huge legislative mistake” and vowed to keep fighting it, either in its entirety or by knocking out the most unpopular parts. He also promised to move ahead on the Keystone pipeline, another nonstarter for the president, noting that “the employment figures with Keystone are stunning if we would just get going.”

Obama insisted that a minimum wage increase, opposed by most top Republicans, will still be high on his to-do list, arguing that minimum wage initiatives passed in five states on Tuesday and saying: “I think it would be hard to say that people don’t support it.”

( Also on POLITICO: GOP takes control of Senate in midterm rout)

And what about the message voters were trying to send with the sweeping Republican victories on Tuesday?

“I don’t want to try to read the tea leaves on election results,” Obama said.

Both Obama and McConnell had to say they’d work together, and there may be a few narrow areas where they’ll actually try it. But they’re not kidding themselves about what’s really ahead: the Republicans will spend the next two years proving to their base that Tuesday night’s victories were not in vain.

They didn’t just have a marginally good night on Tuesday — the GOP had a huge night, easily winning control of the Senate. They’re on track to expand their House majority to historic levels. And they’re winning governors’ mansions, too, with some of their most vulnerable incumbents hanging on against the odds.

( PHOTOS: Election Day 2014)

Republicans already have claimed at least 52 seats in the Senate, and that’s without final results in Alaska and Louisiana, which could easily go to the GOP as well.

That sets up a running argument within the party that’s sure to last through Obama’s final two years: Should Republicans prove they can govern? Or should they set up as many fights as possible, and settle them in the 2016 presidential election?

McConnell made it clear he’ll only go so far to please the tea party activists who want big fights with Obama: “There will be no government shutdown, no default on the national debt.” He also noted that “when the American people chose divided government, I don’t think it means they don’t want us to do anything.”

But he also declared that the Senate won’t be shy about sending Obama bills he’s sure to veto.

“We’re going to pass legislation, some of which he may not like, but we’re going to function,” McConnell said.

Top Republican leaders said Tuesday night and Wednesday morning that the party should use the opportunity to work with Obama to get some things done, while conservatives in the party are continuing to push the repeal of Obamacare and other nonstarters. Republican policy experts say the party will have to manage that balance by putting out its own governing agenda, working with Obama where they can, and then taking the bigger fights to the voters in 2016.

“They shouldn’t make it sound like they’re anxious to go to war with the president,” said Pete Wehner of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. “They just need to be patient. It’s still difficult to govern when the president is from the other party. But they are now the governing party in America … They have to show that they merit that vote of confidence.”

Other Republican leaders followed the same script. At a post-election press conference Wednesday, Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, cited tax reform as “a great idea for the House and Senate to come together.”

On NBC’s “Today” show on Wednesday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who’s eyeing Obama’s job, said McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner should “sit down and decide what their priorities are and then sit down with the president. People want to get things done.”

And Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said on MSNBC on Wednesday that his party should find “real, achievable goals that are simple, that we can define for the American people … work with the president, get those things done, repeat and repeat and repeat.”

First, though, Republicans are going to have to figure out how to manage their own internal tensions.

Conservative activists are not going to be interested in small ball — the kinds of little legislative victories that could help the Republicans keep the Senate for more than two years. They’re going to want the GOP to pick big fights with Obama, and give the voters the clearest possible choice in 2016.

They want the GOP Senate to do everything it can to repeal Obamacare, fight regulations across the board, and hold the line against immigration reform — setting up a likely clash if Obama moves ahead with his expected executive order on immigration.

“Just like the House majority four years earlier, the new Senate Republican majority is built on the repeal of Obamacare. And in a stark departure from conventional wisdom, nearly every newly elected Republican Senator ran against amnesty,” said Dan Holler, a spokesman for Heritage Action for America. “As we move forward, Republicans must govern as they campaigned.”

Jenny Beth Martin of the Tea Party Patriots put it bluntly: “You’re welcome, GOP. Now keep your promises.”

Club for Growth’s Barney Keller said the Senate’s economic priorities should include tax reform — a goal McConnell shares — but also “full repeal of Obamacare, gutting Dodd-Frank, and demolishing regulations that are stifling capital formation.”

And conservative activist Brent Bozell warned: “The GOP owes its victory to its base and breaking any promises now will put their majority and any chance for the presidency in 2016 in jeopardy.”

The pressure won’t just come from the outside, either. In a speech at Texas Gov.-elect Greg Abbott’s victory party on Tuesday night, Ted Cruz, one of the Senate Republicans who’s likely to run for the White House, said voters have “given Republicans another chance” and they should do big things with it.

“Now is the time for tax reform. Now is the time for regulatory reform. Now is the time to go after and do everything humanly possible to repeal Obamacare. Now is the time to stand up to the president and say, ‘No more amnesty,’” Cruz said.

And Texas Gov. Rick Perry, another likely 2016 contender, declared it was “time to lead and craft common-sense policies that make America energy independent, bring sanity to our Tax Code, and secure our border once and for all.”

The Republicans won their Senate majority without even waiting for the final results in Alaska — where Republican Dan Sullivan led Democratic Sen. Mark Begich — or the runoff next month in Louisiana, where Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu will face off against Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy.

They’ll have plenty of rising stars to fill their ranks, including Joni Ernst in Iowa, who prevailed over Democrat Bruce Braley to win retiring Sen. Tom Harkin’s seat, and Cory Gardner in Colorado, who easily knocked off Sen. Mark Udall. They’ll be joined by Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who quickly unseated Sen. Mark Pryor, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who edged out Sen. Kay Hagan.

They even avoided a runoff in Georgia, where David Perdue defeated Michelle Nunn despite his troubles over acknowledging he had been involved in outsourcing as a business executive. And Pat Roberts of Kansas, the most vulnerable Republican incumbent in the Senate, fought off his challenge from independent Greg Orman far more easily than the polls had indicated.

And in one of the election’s biggest surprises, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner still hasn’t officially prevailed over Republican Ed Gillespie, clinging to a lead of just about 12,000 votes.

The tension, however, is that many Republicans will push to reach whatever legislative deals they can with Obama — even small ones — so they can make a solid case for their leadership and keep the Senate majority for more than two years.

House Republicans may be safe, but several Senate Republicans will be up for reelection in purple states in 2016, like Rob Portman of Ohio, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Mark Kirk of Illinois. They’re likely to need a record of accomplishment to run on, not just fights with Obama, and even the strength of the GOP gains this year aren’t going to change that reality.

Republicans want to get their new majorities on track next year by passing a budget, raising the debt limit and passing a long-term highway bill. They’re also eyeing issues in which they can peel away Democrats and put more pressure on Obama, like approving the Keystone pipeline and repealing Obamacare’s tax on medical devices.

Even some newly elected Republicans are stressing the common-ground theme.

“No one wants to see the flag of partisanship waved. There’s lots of common ground,” West Virginia Sen.-elect Shelley Moore Capito, who won retiring Democrat Jay Rockefeller’s Senate seat, said on Fox News Wednesday morning. “I’m certain we’ll be able to reach across party lines.”

But they’ll still have to navigate legislative dangers now that the expectations are so high. If they want Obama to sign a budget reconciliation bill, they’ll have to decide whether they really want to include a full repeal of the health care law — a move that would guarantee that Obama wouldn’t sign it.

And McConnell, who has sent mixed signals about his Obamacare strategy, said on Wednesday that “if I had the ability … I’d get rid of it,” but noted that Obama will still be president for two more years. Instead, McConnell listed more limited targets, like getting rid of the individual mandate and its medical device tax and rewriting its definition of full-time work.

Obama administration officials are sure to do everything they can to exploit those tensions.

“The issue is as much, ‘can Republicans overcome Republicans,’ [as] whether the president and the Republicans can get along,” former Obama adviser David Axelrod said on MSNBC Wednesday morning. “They ran a whole campaign spending an awful of money telling people that they’re against Obama, and now they have to pivot and find ways to cooperate with the president, and their base isn’t all going to be that satisfied or happy with that result.”

Still, Democrats were all too aware of the magnitude of their losses. They didn’t even have the consolation of big wins in the governors’ race, as they’d hoped.

They did get two bits of good news on Wednesday: Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper survived a strong challenge from Republican Bob Beauprez, while Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy narrowly won his re-election race against Republican Tom Foley.

But they scored almost none of the pickups they wanted. Florida Gov. Rick Scott prevailed over Democrat Charlie Crist, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback survived, and Govs. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Rick Snyder of Michigan cruised to reelection. Even Paul LePage of Maine, one of the most endangered GOP governors, held on in a tough three-way race.

There was even a shocker in Maryland, as Republican Larry Hogan defeated Democratic Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown in the deep-blue state.

The only real victory for Democrats came in Pennsylvania, where Tom Wolf unseated GOP Gov. Tom Corbett, as expected.

Jonathan Topaz and Kendall Breitman contributed to this report.