Obama's Secret Weapon: This Guy?!

John McCain burying the hatchet with the president
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted May 20, 2013 8:50 AM CDT
Obama's Secret Weapon: This Guy?!
John McCain gives a thumbs up as he emerges from a private dinner with President Barack Obama and Republican senators, March 6, 2013.   (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

Someone send the devil a sweater, because suddenly, John McCain and President Obama are getting along. Last week, McCain sat down with his 2008 rival for a private Oval Office strategy session, the latest in a string of such discussions. "Ever since the election, we've had conversations and phone calls," McCain tells Politico. "I’d like to be over there every day to give him guidance." McCain said the two shared "many agenda items" including immigration reform, Guantanamo Bay, and consulate security.

McCain is also leading a behind-the-scenes effort to resurrect a budget "grand bargain," and he was among the Republicans to vote in favor of expanded gun background checks. New White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough is hoping the Arizona senator can serve as Obama's new GOP dancing partner now that his relationship with John Boehner has soured and Mitch McConnell is facing a primary. "I'm getting nervous," McCain BFF and strident Obama foe Lindsey Graham says. "I told Denis McDonough, 'I don't know what you've done; you've hijacked him.'" (More John McCain stories.)

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