President Obama returned to the White House on Thursday to resume efforts to end a partisan impasse on a fiscal deal without his wife and daughters, who remain on vacation in Hawaii. His only companion: the family dog, Bo.
Which inevitably brings to mind the aphorism (wrongly) attributed to his one of his predecessors, Harry S. Truman: “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.â€
So Mr. Obama will have his spirited pet for company in the White House as he confronts the uphill struggle to win House Republicans' acq uiescence to legislation extending the Bush-era tax cuts, which expire after Monday, for income below $250,000 a year. Anti-tax Republicans in the House demand an extension of the cuts for all income levels.
According to a report from the press pool that accompanied the president on the overnight flight, the Obamas' Portuguese water dog three times wandered into the press cabin, which is at the far end of Air Force One from the president's lair.
Late on Wednesday, before leaving Oahu, Mr. Obama called the four congressional leaders â€" the Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and the Republicans, House Speaker John A. Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
