Luke Sharrett/The New York Times

Updated, 4:30 p.m. BALTIMORE — President Obama and the Congressional Republicans who have opposed him engaged in a lively and robust public debate this afternoon over health care, the economy and who was more to blame for the toxic atmosphere clouding the nation’s politics.

Mr. Obama visited the House Republican retreat here in an attempt to break through the partisan logjam that has helped stall his legislative agenda. What ensued was a remarkable encounter in which a president spoke to an essentially hostile crowd for an hour and half, sparring with the leadership of the opposition party in a way that is rarely seen in carefully scripted American politics.

The Republicans pressed Mr. Obama on why he had disregarded their ideas on generating more jobs and fixing health care without blowing up the deficit. Mr. Obama replied that he did consider many of their suggestions and incorporated some into his initiatives but found others unworkable. For his part, he complained that the Republicans had caricatured him as a radical and his health care plan as “a Bolshevik plot” on America.

“I am not an ideologue,” Mr. Obama said at one point, drawing murmurs from the crowd. “I’m not.”

But if he rejected the Republican labels, so did they reject the ones he and Democrats have applied to them.

“I can look you in the eye and tell you we have not been obstructionists,” Representative Jason Chaffetz, a freshman from Utah, told him.

The encounter at a Baltimore hotel was unlike any of Mr. Obama’s presidency or very many other presidencies, for that matter. While he met with the Republican caucus once before and occasionally invites Republican leaders to the White House, they have never opened their dialogue to the public in a sustained way so that it could be broadcast live on national television. His predecessors likewise generally did not engage the opposition in a public back and forth.

Whether it will change the dynamics of a polarized capital or not remained unclear. Neither side gave much in terms of policy even as they professed interest in moving past the bitterness of the past year and working together. But Mr. Obama promised to invite Republican leaders to the White House once a month this year to talk through issues with him and Democratic leaders, and both sides walked out struck by a debate that was unusually substantive and civil in the context of a poisonous political era.

“Both sides can take some blame for a sour climate on Capitol Hill,” Mr. Obama told the Republicans before leaving. “What I can do maybe to help is to try to bring Republican and Democratic leadership together on a more regular basis with me. That’s I think a failure on my part.”



Traditionally at annual party retreats, the president gives a short speech that is open to the public and media, then the doors are shut for a more candid question-and-answer session. Republicans said they initially did not ask the White House if the president’s entire appearance could be public since they did not expect it would consent.

But late Thursday, the White House asked if the exchange with the lawmakers could be televised. Republicans decided this morning that they would allow media coverage, rather than be portrayed as wanting to keep the session private since they have been promoting themselves as advocates of government transparency.

Republican strategists were uncertain about the decision, worrying that it would allow the president to gain the upper hand in the public perception of the event, because of his skill in such settings. And Mr. Obama did show a strong command of the issues and deflect some of the Republican criticisms of his handling of them. He pointedly noted that while Republicans have assailed his economic stimulus package, “some of you have been at the ribbon-cuttings for some of these important projects in your communities.”

But Republicans said they believed they achieved a victory as well, demonstrating that while Democrats might not like some of their policy ideas, they have advanced some proposals — as evidenced by the president’s acknowledgment that he has read them and that some ideas have been incorporated into his initiatives.

“For him to say I have read your proposals and they are substantive proposals, that is a huge thing for Republicans,” Representative Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona, said.

Just to make the point that they have been more than the “Party of No,” Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the House minority leader, as he introduced the president, handed him a booklet called “Better Solutions” compiling a variety of Republican ideas that they said the president had ignored or resisted over the last year.

“We don’t expect you to agree with us on every one of our solutions,” Mr. Boehner said, “but we do hope that you and your administration will consider them.”

Following the session, the Republican leadership struck a conciliatory tone and said they hoped that the meeting could be the beginning of a more productive relationship following a year of intense discord.

“We’re not always going to agree, but I think it did become clear in the conversation today with the president that there are issues and items that we do agree upon,” said Mr. Boehner. “But when they’re lumped together in 2,000-page bills and 1,000-page bills, typically what we find is a lot of things in the bills that we disagree with.

“And so if we can break these down into smaller bites, smaller bills, we will be able to find that more common ground, and find ways to work together.”

The president began by the session by giving a short speech. “I don’t believe the American people want us to focus on our job security. They want us to focus on their job security,” he said, drawing applause from the Republicans. “I don’t think they want more gridlock. I don’t think they want more partisanship. I don’t think they want more obstruction. They didn’t send us to Washington to fight each other in some sort of steel-cage match to see who comes out alive.”

But he encouraged a vigorous debate and seemed to enjoy the give and take with his critics. “I’m a big believer not just in the value of a loyal opposition but in its necessity,” the president said.

Asked at one point if he had to leave or could take more questions, Mr. Obama agreed to answer more, saying: “You know, I’m having fun.”

See the related article by David M. Herszenhorn on fact-checking the session. And a related post by Brian Stelter on C-Span’s plans to rebroadcast the session at 8 p.m.