Common ground can be good PR

Finally, he's back.

In a major address to both houses of Congress Tuesday night, Barack Obama outlined his plans for the economy and his priorities for the country. Not only was it one of Obama's most inspirational speeches; it was probably the most inspirational speech given by any president in recent memory. (Watch video | Read the text)

The somber, transitional Obama of the last two months has stepped back, and the motivational, "Yes, we can" Obama from the campaign has returned with a big smile. He promised: "We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before!"

The new president has had some PR work to do lately. Three of his nominees for top government positions had to step down because they hadn't paid their taxes. Republicans forced concessions on the Democrats' economic recovery program and then still didn't vote for it.

Former Republican presidential candidate John McCain was on as many talk shows as possible, bad-mouthing the party he had offered to work with, while Congressional Republican leaders John Boehner and Eric Cantor were talking about ways to form an "effective opposition" to the Democrats. Obama even visited prominent Republicans at their homes, searching for ways to work together, but returned empty-handed.

All the more remarkable it was, then, that about 15 minutes into Tuesday's speech — after sitting silently through Obama's plans for health care, education and new technologies — the Republican members of Congress began to applaud when Obama talked about incentives to reactivate the system of lending.

The applause turned into the first of several standing ovations when Obama said that this time, the banks will have to account fully for the money the government is giving them. He announced the creation of a new government website, recovery.gov, which answers questions like "Where is your money going?" and promises "accountability and transparency". "I've asked Vice-President Biden to lead a tough, unprecedented oversight effort, because nobody messes with Joe!" he said.

With this, and some words about individual responsibility, Obama scored the PR victory he needed and found the common ground he had sought. Proof of this was delivered in the lukewarm Republican response (Video | Text), given by Louisiana Governor Piyush "Bobby" Jindal, who stated that "Republicans are ready to work with the new president."

The two parties have "an honest and fundamental disagreement about the proper role of government," Jindal explained, adding that "we oppose the national Democratic view that says the way to strengthen our country is to increase dependence on government. We believe the way to strengthen our country is to restrain spending in Washington, to empower individuals and small businesses to grow our economy and create jobs." He then admitted: "In recent years, these distinctions in philosophy became less clear. Our party got away from its principles. ... Republicans lost your trust, and rightly so."

At the moment, both parties need each other: the Democrats need votes in the Senate, and the Republicans need to reestablish their credibility. But if, as is widely believed, Jindal becomes a candidate for president in 2012 or 2016, he'll have to think of some stronger arguments.

* This column will, from time to time, continue the political analysis found in our USA '08 columns. Covering December 2007 to January 2009, those columns remain available at http://archive.spotlight-online.de/usa08/