Note to Obama: Watch "Mean Girls"

Seeing Obama and Republicans duke it out in the same room last Friday reminded me of those final scenes in "Mean Girls," when Tina Fey makes everyone sit in the gym until they get over "The Book." The only thing missing was Obama trust-falling into Eric Cantor's arms. 

It was quite the sight. Obama on Republican turf, at their annual retreat, fully engaging the folks that made his first year hell. Talking in public to the ones he's said were unwilling to work with him behind closed doors.

In true "Mean Girls" fashion, both sides revealed they weren't as horrible as the other thought. And there was no "Regina" character -- someone so bad that they actually deserved all the hate. But I do see some parallels between Lindsay Lohan's character, named Cady Heron, and our President himself. 

In "Mean Girls," Cady Heron is the young, attravtice protagonist, with African roots. Obama? Young, attractive protaganist (at least for some). African roots? Check. 

In "Mean Girls," Cady Heron has the opportunity to infiltrate the upper circles of her high school's elaborate hierarchy of popularity. Obama came to Washington to infiltrate an entrenched, gridlocked political elite. Both had high hopes for their missions. 

To accomplish her goals, Heron went undercover, becoming the meanest of the mean girls she wanted to bring down. On the other hand, Obama, in his first year, sought to compromise with the Republicans he said he came to Washington to undo. Heron, in the end, couldn't make it work. Obama, a year in, hasn't done so either. 

Washington, DC of course, is not a movie. (Congress isn't pretty enough for Hollywood.) But Tina Fey's "Mean Girls" script might offer some lessons for Obama and the Hill going forward.

For one, talking is good. To each other. On neutral ground. In the open. It won't make everything better. But it will make your enemy seem at least a little more like a friend. And that is often a good thing.  

And for Obama, his "Mean Girls" lesson is to just be who he really is. Lindsay Lohan's character ultimately couldn't hack it as a Mean Girl -- it just wasn't her. She was meant to be a mathlete. Barack Obama, it seems, isn't a master of the Senate, no LBJ. But that kind of makes sense -- he didn't even stay in Congress long enough to let the new paint job dry in his Senate office. 

He needs to be himself, the guy we liked on the campaign. The one out there talking to everybody, at ease explaining complex ideas, or reaffirming age-old beliefs. We didn't elect him to make back door deals with the House and Senate. We voted for him to be our new great communicator, the one who might be able to talk us all towards a better reality. 

It seems he's gotten the point. David Plouffe, campaign mastermind, was brought back to the White House after the Dems lost Kennedy's (or "the people's") Senate seat. Since then, Obama's changed his approach and adopted a new "direct engagement" model. I hope it works. And if Tina Fey's script has any prescience, I think it will.

In "Mean Girls," once everyone started talking, life at the high school moved towards a better normal. Not perfect, but workable. One hopes Obama can help accomplish the same thing in our nation's politics, trust falls not included.