More symbolic post partisanship from Obama as he was a guest of George Will for dinner last night. Also present were William Kristol of the Weekly Standard (and New York Times), David Brooks - also of the New York Times, and Charles Krauthammer of Fox News and the Washington Post.Marc Ambinder is reporting that the meeting was set up by Obama's new press secretary Ellen Moran and that he will have another dinner tomorrow with "non-Republican" opinion columnists.To those who say quite rightly that this was just a symbolic gesture and didn't mean anything, I disagree. The presidency is an office with a heavy symbolic content. The Constitution really doesn't say that much about the powers invested in the office. Much of the influence a president has is directly proportionate to his popularity with the people. Obama knows that those gentlemen will disagree with him 95% of the time. But the atmospherics he creates by reaching out a hand in civility is exactly what the country...(Read Full Post)