Oh brother...
GOP leaders complain that the phone calls and White House invitations have slacked off — perhaps because Obama’s early efforts to woo Republicans yielded few votes.
"I think that in the beginning they seemed a lot more willing to go in and engage with us," said House Minority Whip Eric Cantor.
Yup, Obama was far more willing to go in and engage with them. And Republicans took those opportunities to extract concessions, then vote against Obama's agenda en masse. So finally Obama realized what we had been arguing the whole time -- that it was a waste of time to deal with Republicans who had little incentive in supporting Obama's agenda and were more obsessed with "unity" as the path out of their electoral troubles.
Engagement is obviously a two-way street, and Republicans had zero interest in returning any consideration to Obama. So, he turned his attention to more worthwhile endeavors.
Given the Republican Party's continued opposition to any significant reform on any issue, it'd be nice if Congressional Democrats would stop giving Republicans the time of day. They are an irrelevant party, rejected en masse by an American electorate desperate for change.