It marked the second day in a row that Schwarzenegger strayed from his party’s positions.
On Sunday, he defended Obama’s economic stimulus
plan and chided elected officials, most of them Republicans, who oppose
the overall stimulus but are quick to trumpet individual projects in
their states that are paid for by the stimulus.
Standing outside the
“I think the stimulus package has been very successful so far, and I think
Schwarzenegger also said it’s good that the
president is reaching out to Republicans as he prepares for this week’s
health care summit with congressional leaders.
“Since half of the people are Republicans, why would
you exclude Republicans?” he asked. “Then half of the people hate you
for having done health care reform.”
And he sided with Obama, saying it would be wrong to start all over in preparing health care legislation for
“I think any Republican that says you should start
from scratch, I think that’s bogus talk, and that’s partisan talk,” the
governor told reporters.
Obama met with the governors as a group Monday
morning. Schwarzenegger was the only governor to get a private meeting
later with the president.
Schwarzenegger said he discussed a wide array of
issues with the president, including roads and bridges, high-speed
rail, education and creating new tax incentives for energy-efficient
homes.
But he said the economy was the top issue.
“It was truly encouraging to see him being so
interested in talking about job creation being his No. 1 priority,”
Schwarzenegger said.
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(c) 2010, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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