Cantor on Obama outreach: 'I hope he is sincere'

Even after a meeting with President Barack Obama on Capitol Hill Wednesday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor couldn't say for sure whether the new effort by the White House to reach out to Republicans is genuine.

"I hope that he is sincere in wanting to work together. Because the fact is, there are a lot of things that we do agree on. We know we've got to balance the budget. We know that there are things in common within his proposals and in ours," Cantor said on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer."

Obama met Wednesday with House Republicans in a meeting that began with lawmakers giving the president a standing ovation, though afterwards there was little evidence the meeting yielded much in the way of compromise.

Cantor said Thursday "the tone and the reception was appropriate" at the meeting with the House GOP, adding that the two sides could agree "that we all want to do right by the people that elect us."

"There's a lot of disaffected Americans out there, working families, who just want to see their life work again," Cantor said. "And I believe that all of us want to see folks who are in failing schools to have parents have the ability to give their children an opportunity to a quality education."

Some Republicans have been skeptical of Obama's recent "charm offensive," suggesting it's merely a political move to appear more conciliatory. Asked again whether he thought Obama's outreach was sincere, Cantor would only say "I certainly hope so."

"It would be a good thing, I think for the country," he continued. "And, you know, the problem is, you have some fundamental disagreements there."