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Golf summit a win-win for Obama and Boehner, White House says

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Washington Bureau

The White House described this past weekend’s golf summit as a “worthwhile encounter” between Washington’s top Democrat and Republican, though differences clearly remain on a range of issues between the two leaders.

Press Secretary Jay Carney said President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were still talking about Saturday’s outing on Monday morning, and that the president of course “enjoyed winning” on his team with House Speaker John Boehner.

“It served the purpose that I spoke about, not to resolve the disagreements or the challenges that the leaders share, but to help create an environment where the talks as they go forward on deficit reduction, on dealing with the debt-ceiling vote, on all of the issues that leaders in Congress and the administration have to deal with -- it makes all of these conversations a little easier, a little more collegial. And that makes the outing entirely worthwhile.” he said.

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Photos: Obama-Boehner golf game

Discussions on deficit reduction and raising the nation’s debt limit have been going on for months now, but Libya has emerged as a more dramatic point of contention between Obama and Boehner, with Congress seeking greater consultation and perhaps a vote on authorizing ongoing military action against the Moammar Kadafi regime.

Carney declined to say how much that issue factored into Saturday’s discussions.

“They touched on a lot of different subjects, including subjects that are very much in the news,” he said.

For defeating the team of Biden and Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Saturday, Obama and Boehner won $2 each.

“A win is a win,” Carney said, joking with reporters about whether that money should go toward the national debt.

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