my own contacts with him have been limited. my experiences are not unique this respect. the president had a program. i think he and his followers determined that there were not republican votes to get cloture. to push, at this time last year, as the health bill was being pushed, right up to christmas eve. so as a result, there wasn't much reaching or stretching or what have you. now, i think since the election, my understanding is that the meetings that the president has had have certainly had an element of reaching out. and i think that has been appreciated. and as i indicated earlier, i think that perhaps senator mcconnell, our republican leader, and the president, may see more eye to eye on how we ought to wind up this lame-duck session then maybe do others in this situation. >> so what you're saying is, senator mcconnell, the republican leader, is dealing with sort of rebellious