Cantor Emerges as GOP Voice

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26, 2009 -- With members of both parties gathered at the White House for Monday's summit on fiscal responsibility, President Obama was asked whether he'll continue his outreach to Republicans.

He didn't have to scan the crowd to settle on a member of Congress he could single out to make his point.

"I'm going to keep on talking to Eric Cantor," the president said.

"Some day, sooner or later, he is going to say, 'Boy, Obama had a good idea,'" he added, prompting some laughter. "It's going to happen. You watch, you watch."

The political world is indeed watching. And whether and how it happens could be one of the most critical factors in determining whether Obama's attempt to remake Washington politics is a success.

Rep. Cantor, R-Va., has emerged as a key player in Washington and arguably the most influential young voice in a Republican Party in transition.

The second-ranking House Republican -- and the only Jewish Republican in the House of Representatives -- Cantor appears to be a well-positioned foil for the new president.

So far, that's left Cantor uniting his party in opposition to Obama -- but it may not always be that way.

Cantor, 45, said he accepts Obama's vows of bipartisanship "all in good spirit" and that he remains hopeful that Republicans will find ways to team up with a reform-minded president.

"He was elected with an awful lot of hope on the part of voters that he was actually going to do things in a different way," Cantor said in an interview.

In a deft piece of political positioning, Cantor and his allies are arguing that if Obama intends to keep his word on bringing a new tone to governing, he's going to have to make that clear to his fellow Democrats on Capitol Hill.

That leaves Republicans standing up primarily against widely unpopular congressional leaders, as opposed to the still-popular president.

"Perhaps the White House may not say this, but they missed an opportunity to intervene early with Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi to get her to do things differently [in the stimulus bill]," Cantor said. "This bill did not meet his standard."

He said it falls to the president to change the way business is conducted in Congress: "He is obviously a mighty persuasive figure. He has a lot of political capital, and I believe his heart is in the right place."