Ezra Klein explains there's more than one reason for Obama's meetings with Republicans

Obama's dinner with Republicans isn't just to be charming. Ezra Klein at the Washington Post points out that there is an educational purpose as well. You see, some Republicans don't have any idea what the President really says. They, like their rock-ribbed conservative constituents, believe in a caricature of Obama that is presented to them by pretty much every source in the modern conservative echo chamber. They haven't looked beyond it to sources that might present a more balanced view of current events. Consider this example he presents.

The number of Republicans who don’t know what the White House is actually offering is stunning. Last week I wrote about a Republican legislator who didn’t know Obama had publicly said he’d be willing to move to chained-CPI.

Would it matter, one reporter asked the veteran legislator, if the president were to put chained-CPI — a policy that reconfigures the way the government measures inflation and thus slows the growth of Social Security benefits — on the table?
“Absolutely,” the legislator said. “That’s serious.”
Another reporter jumped in. “But it is on the table! They tell us three times a day that they want to do chained-CPI.”
“Who wants to do it?” said the legislator.
“The president,” replied the reporter.
“I’d love to see it,” laughed the legislator.

How common is this kind of ignorance among those who make our laws? Klein doesn't say. Probably because he doesn't know its extent.