Washington was overcast, and rain threatened on Monday. But President Obama nonetheless figured it was a good day for golf, inviting three senators to complete his foursome rather than the usual staff aides.
In the latest bit of outreach to Congress to press for his troubled domestic agenda, Mr. Obama invited two Republicans, Senators Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Bob Corker of Tennessee, and one Democrat, Senator Mark Udall of Colorado, to golf with him at Joint Base Andrews.
All three are the sort who are willing to work with colleagues of the other party on bipartisan legislation - just the kind Mr. Obama is hoping to build into a super-majority of the Democrat-led Senate, at least 60 votes - to pass his second-term priorities like budget, immigration and guns measures. With Senate passage of such legislation, the strategy holds, the House, and its Republican majority, would be under pressure to compromise in turn.
Mr. Chambliss, for example, has worked with Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, toward a bipartisan deficit-reduction package that would both cut spending and raise tax revenues. And from his days in the House, Mr. Chambliss remains a close confidant - and golf companion - of Speaker John A. Boehner.
