Rivals' Meeting Today Could Benefit Both Men

Meeting today in Chicago to bury the hatchet, Barack Obama and John McCain could each be of considerable use to the other, the Wall Street Journal notes. Working together, McCain could get his maverick groove back, and Obama could get help on these key areas:

• Auto efficiency: McCain has worked with Obama ally John Kerry in the past on this priority for the new president.

• A cap-and-trade bill for carbon emissions: McCain has already sponsored a bill with Joe Lieberman, creating a market to buy and sell the right to emit greenhouse gases. It’s one of Obama’s major goals.
• A commission on corporate welfare: Cutting wasteful corporate subsidies is another idea McCain has worked on with Lieberman, and this one’s been endorsed by Obama honcho Rahm Emanuel.
• Immigration: This is the issue that nearly destroyed McCain hopes for the GOP nomination. Now that that's over, he can go back to his compromise stance.