'Charles Krauthammer was surprised when President Barack Obama invited him to the White House last month...'

Heh.

At Politico, "Krauthammer on Krauthammer":

Since Obama took office, the columnist and Fox News contributor has been among the most forceful critics of the president’s policies. Krauthammer’s long been widely read among conservatives, but has recently raised his prominence with unrelenting and searing attacks on the president’s health care plan, proclaiming earlier this month that the “unraveling” of Obamacare, the administration, and the Democratic Senate majority could amount to nothing less than “the collapse of American liberalism.”

With Obama’s approval rating at an all-time low, and the Republican establishment at odds with the conservative base, Krauthammer had become more than “critic in chief.” Blending high-mindedness with strong conservative values, he has commanded respect on both the extreme and moderate sides of the spectrum, becoming the closest thing the factionalized GOP could have to a spokesperson, a de facto opposition leader for the thinking right.

But on that October day when a small group of conservative writers gathered for an off-the-record session with Obama, Krauthammer checked his criticism at the gates to the White House.

“I wouldn’t presume to be schooling the president of the United States in his own house on political philosophy,” Krauthammer told POLITICO in a recent interview. “I wouldn’t do it to a friend, let alone to a president who invites me to see him. The role of that encounter is for me as a journalist, as an observer, as an outsider and as a critic to try and get a sense of how his mind works, so I can more accurately understand him and what he does. So it’s not my role to go in there and say ‘You’re a romantic, sir.’”

Such diplomacy goes right to the heart of Krauthammer’s temperament. Despite bold statements and dire predictions, Krauthammer is revered by colleagues on the right and widely respected by those on the left. Fellow pundits call him one of the most important voices in conservatism. Top Republican lawmakers read his columns, as does the President of the United States.

He's a classy guy.

Continue reading.

And here's Krauthammer's book at Amazon, Things That Matter: Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes and Politics.