Obama and McCain, Together Again

If you’ve been suffering withdrawals from seeing President-elect Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain together in news reports in the last week, you’re in luck! The Obama-Biden transition team announced today that the two former rivals are scheduled to take a meeting Monday in Chicago. Transition spokesperson Stephanie Cutter released the following statement:

“On Monday, President-elect Barack Obama and Senator John McCain will meet in Chicago at transition headquarters. It’s well known that they share an important belief that Americans want and deserve a more effective and efficient government, and will discuss ways to work together to make that a reality. They will be joined in the meeting by Senator Lindsey Graham and Congressman Rahm Emanuel.”

The meeting signals a desire to bury the hatchet following what was, at times, a vicious campaign. During his concession speech, McCain pledged to “do all in my power to help” Obama lead. With an ambitious agenda and a Democratic-controlled Senate that still lacks a couple votes to break a Republican filibuster, Obama could use some of McCain’s maverick-ness in the coming months and years.

McCain will almost certainly remain a major player among Senate Republicans, and potentially a key swing vote — particularly on issues like addressing climate change and alternative energy, in which he shares a common position with the president-elect. Unlike most defeated presidential candidates in recent history, McCain is unlikely to slink off into relative obscurity after the election.