Mr. Obama Goes To Baltimore

I don't know what President Obama expected to gain by going to a meeting of Republican lawmakers in Baltimore and meeting and answering his critics head-on. It got some good PR for both the President and the Republicans - Obama for taking heat from the opposition, the GOP for having Obama as a guest at their otherwise private party. And the gathering seemed almost European, with the parliamentary-style questioning of the leader by the opposition. But did it lead to any possible paths to solutions on health care? On jobs? Or on campaign finance reform, a newly contentious issue thanks to the Supreme Court?

All the President and the Republicans agreed to do was disagree, if you ask me. And the goodwill generated from the meeting may have given Obama twice as much GOP support as he had beforehand, but how much is two times zero?