Reuniting of the rivals!

President-elect Barack Obama and Senator John McCain agreed on Monday, in their first meeting since the election, to work together on some of the nation’s most pressing challenges, from the financial crisis to national security problems. I think it's funny that Obama is now called "President-elect".

After a private meeting in the Obama transition offices on the 38th floor of the Kluczynski (however you would pronounce that) Federal Building in downtown Chicago, the two former opponents issued a joint statement saying that they agreed “that Americans of all parties want and need their leaders to come together and change the bad habits of Washington so that we can solve the common and urgent challenges of our time.” I quote the New York Times.
The statement continued: “We hope to work together in the days and months ahead on critical challenges like solving our financial crisis, creating a new energy economy, and protecting our nation’s security.”
There were few other clues to the dynamics between the two men, who until two weeks ago were competing for the presidency, and whose relations during the campaign were at times a bit musty. When a reporter asked Senator McCain at the outset of the meeting on Monday whether he would help Obama with his administration, he quickly replied, “Obviously.”
The meeting came four days after Obama met with his main rival for the Democratic nomination, Senator Hillary Clinton, sparking widespread rumor that he would nominate her to be secretary of state. Now it seems totally likely to happen.
And it also came three days after Obama met with another former rival, Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, a former ambassador to the United Nations who might now be in competition with Clinton for the State Department post, which almost nobody has heard said before.
The Obama-McCain meeting in Chicago, an effort at reuniting after a bitterly fought campaign, came unusually soon after Election Day.
Obama (president-elect) and the Arizona senator still hold relatively similar views on issues like climate change and ethics reform, where cooperation is necessary. More urgently, Obama may be hoping for help in pushing for a new economic stimulus package that faces stiff Republican resistance.