Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said President Obama's outreach to lawmakers "could be better."
Manchin, speaking Thursday on MSNBC, was asked to respond to a comment by retiring Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) who said that she would give Obama a "close to failing grade" on his outreach.
"It could be better," Manchin said. "It could always be better. I haven't had that much communication. Everybody has a different style. I'm not going to condemn the president's style. It's not my style. I like communications. I like to reach out and touch Democrats, Republicans, front row, back row, and get everyone on the same page. Everyone has a different style."
Both Manchin's and Snowe's comments highlight a regular critique of Obama by some of his opponents in Congress: that at times he can be undesirably distant from Capitol Hill and too unwilling to meet with Republican members of Congress or even members of his own party.
In
the interview in which she said she would give Obama a failing grade, Snowe also said she had not met with Obama since 2009.
Snowe also said she did not know who in Congress Obama regularly meets with.
