Obama brushes off Republican complaint that Democrats are getting more speaking time at summit
By APThursday, February 25, 2010
Obama: No tight scorekeeping needed at summit
WASHINGTON — Barack Obama told Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell that time wasn’t equally divided between GOP and Democratic talk at the health care summit because “I’m the president.”
Obama suggested the time he took talking at the outset of the talks shouldn’t be charged to the time allotted Democrats and Republican participants to speak for their parties. McConnell complained at one point that Democrats had talked twice as long as Republicans.
Obama responded by saying “I know there was an imbalance.” But he also tried to keep the proceedings from taking on the more formal structure of a House or Senate floor debate. At one point he noted that the meeting was not formal when one lawmaker interrupted another to ask if he would “yield” for a point.
Tags: Barack Obama, Gop, Health care summit, North America, Summits, United States, Washington
