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WASHINGTON - President Bush reached out to a group of moderate Democrats, including Rep. Jim Matheson, on Tuesday, in an exchange aimed at building bridges with Congress as Bush nears the end of his presidency burdened with sagging approval ratings.
"The president sat down and said, 'Look, I don't like the polarization in Washington. I think we need to work on getting things done and I want to talk about whatever you want to talk about,' " said Matheson, D-Utah.
Bush and his senior staff met with 14 Democratic lawmakers for more than an hour, with the free-form discussion covering a dozen issues ranging from Iraq policy, to energy production, to trade issues and renewal of the No Child Left Behind education law.
"I think [he's] someone who recognizes there are under two years left, that there are a number of domestic policy issues that need to be addressed and this is a great opportunity to make a final push . . . and he recognizes it needs to be bipartisan," Matheson said.
The gathering was the latest meeting the president has held with Democratic lawmakers, as he seeks to regain traction on Capitol Hill.
With Bush's approval rating as low as 28 percent nationally and Democrats controlling both chambers of Congress, Bush will have to rely on winning support from Democrats if he hopes to enact components of his legislative agenda in his last 20 months in office.
Charles Walcott, a political science professor at Virginia Tech University said Bush has little left to draw on, other than to try to reason with the opposing party.
"It's a change in tactics, but the tactical situation has changed," Walcott said. "The president hasn't got much time left. There's no way the White House is simply going to ram things down Congress' throat."
Matheson said he raised the issue of energy security, reducing dependence on foreign oil and dealing with climate change issues. He said he believes there is some room for bipartisan cooperation on energy issues.
They also discussed renewing the No Child Left Behind Act, the law that passed with support from a number of key Democrats and is now awaiting reauthorization. Matheson said Bush insisted accountability is important, but agreed with Matheson that there might need to be more testing flexibility for special education students.