Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/in-calling-for-bipartisanship-obama-faces-new-tests Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript President Barack Obama has promised to bring a more conciliatory brand of politics to Washington as lawmakers grapple over the economic stimulus bill and foreign policy decisions. Analysts discuss some of the president's first, and most important, legislative tests. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JIM LEHRER: And Judy Woodruff has more on President Obama's push for Republican support. JUDY WOODRUFF: Mr. Obama's trip to Capitol Hill today was the latest visible sign that the new president is trying to change how Washington does business.We get three views on his attempt to reach across the aisle from: Kenneth Duberstein, former chief of staff for President Reagan; historian Richard Norton Smith, scholar-in-residence at George Mason University; and Bob Herbert, columnist for the New York Times.Bob Herbert, to you first. Should the president be working so hard to get Republicans to sign on to this plan? BOB HERBERT, New York Times: Sure. I mean, I think that that's the way President Obama functions. He would like to get as much Republican support as possible.But, you know, I'd like to make the point that, you know, you travel this country right now, and there's a great tragedy unfolding out there. People are losing their jobs; homes are being foreclosed upon; families are being pushed into bankruptcy; there's an economic emergency in the land right now.And one of the things that I think that the Democrats and the president need to be concerned about is that you don't want to continue the same policies that led to this economic emergency. So the idea of giving in to Republican objections merely for the sake of bipartisanship, I think, is not a good idea. JUDY WOODRUFF: Ken Duberstein, is there a danger that he could end up giving in to the Republicans too much?KENNETH DUBERSTEIN, former chief of staff to Ronald Reagan: Look, when you're sitting in the White House having just won an election, and the American people are saying, "Hey, guys, you're in the same sandbox. Find a way to work together," and Barack Obama goes to the Hill, meets with the Republicans — House and Senate — and sends his vice president to meet with the Senate Democrats, that's what the American people are looking for.It seems to me that the only people who are not getting the message as far as reaching out are the House and Senate Republicans, but also the House and Senate Democrats.It takes some give-and-take. It's the sausage-making. And what Obama has laid down — President Obama has laid down is, "I will go the extra mile." That's what the American people are looking for as you start shaping an ultimate product, not the product that we see today.