Obama steps up business outreach

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. - President Obama, sending another strong signal that he intends to make his White House more business-friendly, traveled to this industrial city Friday to appoint a prominent corporate executive as his chief outside economic adviser and to spotlight his efforts on job creation.

J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE / Associated Press

President Obama, GE chief Jeffrey R. Immelt (left),
and plant manager Kevin Sharkey tour GE's plant in Schenectady, N.Y.

Here in the birthplace of General Electric, where the company's historic brick edifice and iconic neon-script logo loom over downtown, Obama turned to Jeffrey R. Immelt, the company's chairman and chief executive officer, to run his outside panel of economic advisers. Immelt will succeed Paul A. Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman, who is stepping down.

The selection of Immelt, who was by Obama's side during his trip to India last year and again this week during the visit to Washington of President Hu Jintao of China, is the latest in a string of pro-business steps the president has taken. He has:

Installed William Daley, a former JPMorgan Chase & Co. executive, as his chief of staff.

Scheduled a major speech next month to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Ordered federal agencies to review regulations with an eye toward eliminating some.

Taken together, the moves amount to a carefully choreographed shift in strategy for the White House, both substantively and on the public-relations front, as Obama makes the case to the nation that the United States has moved past economic-crisis mode and is entering "a new phase of our recovery" that demands an emphasis on job creation. That will be part of his theme in Tuesday night's State of the Union address.

As he moves into the second half of his term and lays the foundation for his 2012 reelection campaign, Obama will try to frame the national conversation on the economy around this crisis-to-job-creation narrative.

Republicans, who have spent the first weeks of the new Congress talking about repealing Obama's health-care law, have given the president an opening to do so. Here in Schenectady, Obama seized the opportunity.

"The past two years were about pulling our economy back from the brink," Obama said, standing before the backdrop of a huge generator in a well-lighted plant, with a giant American flag hanging from the ceiling. "The next two years, our job now, is putting our economy into overdrive."

With unemployment stubbornly stuck above 9 percent, where it has been for 20 consecutive months, and 14.5 million Americans without jobs, the labor market remains one of the biggest drags on the economy.

"Our job," the president said, "is to do everything we can to ensure that business can take root, and folks can find good jobs, and America is leading our global competition that will define our success in the 21st century."

The appointment of Immelt is not without complications for the president. GE has countless regulatory matters now before federal agencies, on subjects such as environmental cleanup. Just this week, the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission approved a deal in which GE would sell majority ownership of its NBC Universal Inc. entertainment unit to Comcast Corp., of Philadelphia.

Having the chief executive of such a company advising the White House on job creation at a time when Obama is assuming a more deregulatory posture could generate criticism for the president, who came to Washington vowing to reduce the influence of lobbyists and special interests.

Immelt will be chairman of the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness that Obama intends to create by executive order. In a statement issued Friday, Obama said he wanted the council to "focus its work on finding new ways to encourage the private sector to hire and invest in American competitiveness."

The council will be a reconfigured version of the board Volcker led, the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. That body, created by Obama when he took office in the thick of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, is set to expire Feb. 6.

Asked about his new role, during a conference call about GE's latest earnings report Friday morning, Immelt said the advisory post would give him a chance to contribute to issues in the broader economy, with a focus on competitiveness and jobs.

Immelt said his commitment to GE would not change. "This is my passion," he said of the company. "I am committed. I am a hard worker. I am focused on the company."

Though GE moved its headquarters away from Schenectady long ago, the city remains home to GE's largest energy division, and the company's plants here will build the steam turbines ordered by Reliance Power of India in a $750 million deal announced when Obama and Immelt were in India in November.

GE reported early Friday that it had earned $4.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010, an increase of 52 percent from the 2009 period as it made money in both its lending and industrial businesses.



R Continue ►