Obama uses humor at White House summit

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-25 09:10

WASHINGTON – Add another job description to Barack Obama's title: facilitator in chief.

The US president presided over a White House fiscal summit Monday, and showed his hand as both a policy wonk and a gracious host — to allies and adversaries alike.

House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio, center, looks on as President Barack Obama, left, speaks with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Md., after the president addressed lawmakers as he opened the Fiscal Responsibility Summit, Monday, February 23, 2009, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. [Agencies]

Easygoing though always in charge, Obama melded serious talk about ways to control the exploding federal deficit with frequent doses of humor and familiarity. That mix provided moments of levity that defused what could have been a tense session of finger-pointing between Republicans and Democrats on a painfully dry subject — fiscal policy.

By Washington's stuffy standards, it was a rollicking good time.

On display: a former one-term senator who clearly has grown comfortable as the country's chief executive after just one month in office.

Opening the summit, he promised to cut the skyrocketing annual budget deficit in half over four years and said he would reinstitute a pay-as-you-go rule that calls for spending reductions to match increases. He also said he would shun what he said were the past few years' of "casual dishonesty of hiding irresponsible spending with clever accounting tricks." And, he called health care reform "the single most pressing fiscal challenge we face by far" to the long-term solvency of Social Security.

Later, Obama set the lighter tone as he stood at the podium in the auditorium-like room at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to close out the hours-long summit. He said he heard everyone had enjoyed it. "It's a sign of something," the grinning president said — and readily agreed when someone suggested "illness."

He then proceeded to call on Democrats, Republicans, economists, business representatives and union leaders, inviting questions and comments. He referred to the group generally as "you guys" and casually addressed even the most senior lawmaker by first name.

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