no particular reason why we can t find areas of agreement and do some important things for the american people over the next two years. kelly o donnell is nbc news capitol hill correspondent. kelly, kumbaya has broken out in washington. i guess, though, this is where the rubber meets the road, when they get down to brass tacks of negotiating today. reporter: well, savannah, i guess now that chuck has signaled we can all be in the spirit, perhaps the political leaders here are willing to extend that as well. the bah humbugs are put aside for the moment. this morning, one of those meetings kicks off, where the president has given himself to have some distance, by stating he wants only the middle class tax cut cuts, but designate his budget director and the secretary to try to find some common ground to move the ball forward. this morning, we expect there will be a meeting that will kick this off. we expect to get some pictures of that, but no questions. as you saw yesterday, the whit