An "off-the-record" dinner

[JimboPSM]

Came across this interesting snippet on "Politico" website:

Silence of the lamb chops

By JONATHAN MARTIN 1/14/09 12:07 PM EST Updated: 1/14/09 1:33 PM EST

Call it a charm offensive or a high-level “Listening Tour,” but Barack Obama is already signaling that he intends to break with the current president in one obvious way: hearing from his critics.

Obama Tuesday night trekked to the Chevy Chase, Md., home of conservative columnist George F. Will to talk politics and get to know some of his fiercest intellectual adversaries: Charles Krauthammer, William Kristol, Larry Kudlow, David Brooks, Rich Lowry, Peggy Noonan, Michael Barone, and Paul Gigot.

The two-and-half-hour dinner, which came at Will’s request, is only the first get-together between the president-elect and Washington’s opinion-makers. Wednesday morning he met with prominent columnists and liberal commentators, including the New York Times’ Frank Rich and Maureen Dowd and the Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne.

The right-leaning attendees were largely mum over what was discussed over the lamb chops at Will’s table, pledging fealty to off-the-record ground rules and hoping that the Democrat may again extend an olive branch if he knows his company can keep confidence. They were Obama’s ground rules, but Will swore his guests to secrecy.......

Full article: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/17441.html