WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama announced Thursday he had invited top Republican leaders to the White House on Nov. 18 to find ways to work together after his Democrats suffered a blistering election rout. On the other hand Republicans, fired-up by their elections romp, vowed to slash government spending and target President Barack Obama's signature health care overhaul with an eye on defeating him in 2012. “We can't afford two years of just squabbling,” Obama, who faces reelection in 2012, said as he met with his Cabinet to take stock of Tuesday's clobbering and map out ways to work with Republicans energized by massive gains in Congress. “The voters sent a message, which is they want us to focus on the economy and jobs, and moving this country forward,” as well as reining in government spending and drawing poisonous rhetoric out of the body politic, he said. “This is going to be a meeting in which I want us to talk substantively about how we can move the American people's agenda forward. It's not just going to be a photo-op,” he promised. Republicans claimed a popular mandate against Obama's agenda after riding a wave of anger at the sour economy and joblessness near 10 percent to retake the House of Representatives and slice deep into the Democrats' Senate majority. The party's congressional leaders vowed to roll back Obama's sweeping health care overhaul as well as government regulations they said stifled business; cut government spending and taxes; and investigate the administration. But already pitched political battles loomed in a “lame-duck” congressional session set to open Nov.15, and Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell again said his party's top goal would be to defeat Obama in 2012. “It would be foolish to expect that Republicans will be able to completely reverse the damage Democrats have done as long as a Democrat holds the veto pen,” he said in a speech to the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank. McConnell's blistering message included charges that Obama had set about “dismantling the free market” and accusations that the Democratic agenda “hinders freedom, prosperity, and opportunity.” “None of this is to say that Republicans have given up cooperating with the president,” he insisted, but “if the administration wants cooperation, it will have to begin to move in our direction.” – Agence France
