The Hill News

President Obama will host Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for a private meeting at the White House on Wednesday.

Obama will host his Republican adversary in the 2008 presidential election for their first one-on-one meeting since that contest.

The White House said Tuesday night that McCain and Obama would meet in the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon, though there was no indication as to the reason for the meeting, or scheduled topics for discussion.

The meeting is the first between the two since the immediate aftermath of the 2008 election, when Obama and McCain sat down for talks at transition headquarters in Chicago. The two have crossed paths since then, but not one-on-one; McCain participated in an April 2009 meeting at the White House with leaders of the House and Senate armed services committees, and McCain was a participant in the bipartisan healthcare summit a year ago.

In the two years since the election, McCain's emerg! ed as one of the most strident critics of Obama in the GOP. The Arizona senator has been a foremost critic of government spending, and issues like the repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell." He also tacked to the right on issues like immigration during his primary campaign in 2010.

But McCain has also softened his tone somewhat since the assassination attempt against Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D) in his native Arizona. McCain praised Obama's response and the speech delivered at a memorial service last month in Tucson.