Obama to deliver speech to nation

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — As President Barack Obama prepares to address Congress and the American people Tuesday night in what’s effectively his first State of the Union address, he faces three key questions about how he’ll use the moment.

First, will he reach out to the Republicans who have felt free to scorn him, or match his popularity against theirs and try to slap them back?

Second, how specific will he be about his plans for the coming days? Will he propose nationalizing troubled banks or lay the groundwork for such a dramatic action? Will he use his first proposed budget next week to advance a campaign to overhaul the nation’s health-care system?

Third, will he continue the dire warnings he’s used so far to prod Congress to follow his lead on rescuing the economy, or will he employ a more upbeat voice and say that help is on the way?

Now a month into his presidency, Obama will have a huge audience when he addresses the joint session of Congress, televised live at 9 p.m. Tuesday. It’s likely to be his biggest since roughly 59 million people watched his inauguration last month.

This gives him another chance to make his case for the rush of actions he’s already taken — first a $787 billion economic stimulus package, then a $275 billion plan to rescue beleaguered homeowners from foreclosure — and for what’s yet to come for banks, health care and more.

“This is huge for him,” said Leila Brammer, a scholar of presidential communications at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota. “It’s big for any first-year president — but particularly for Obama. He came in with great momentum. Then he had a few stumbles. This is the time to recapture that momentum.”

Whether he does that could determine how well he does in coming weeks and months.

Some things to watch for Tuesday night:

UWill he reach out to Republicans?

Obama loves to talk about changing the tone of politics. Obama could continue to talk in his speech about bipartisanship, or he could remind Republicans that he’s the one with broad support: 69 percent approval in the most recent McClatchy/Ipsos poll.

UHow specific will he be about his agenda?

Though he already signed the stimulus into law, he’ll still talk about it.

For one thing, he needs to assure people that benefits are going to start pumping into the economy. He’ll talk about his plans to shore up housing and how to use the second half of the bank bailout money.

UWhat kind of tone will he set?

Since Election Day, Obama’s traded campaign talk of hope and “yes, we can” for a more sober message of hard times and warnings that things will get worse.

Some of that was simply straight talk; Obama would have sacrificed credibility had he engaged in booster talk only to see unemployment continue to rise. Some also was meant to prod Congress.