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President Obama urged American businesses on Monday to “get in the game” by letting loose trillions of dollars being held in reserves, saying that they can help create a “virtuous cycle” of more sales, higher demand and greater profits that will put people back to work and turn around the sluggish economy.

“If there is a reason you don’t believe that this is the time to get off the sidelines — to hire and invest — I want to know about it. I want to fix it,” Mr. Obama said in a speech to business leaders at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

In the speech, Mr. Obama pledged to eliminate unneeded regulations and simplify the tax code, but said companies had responsibilities to help the economy recover.

“Ultimately, winning the future is not just about what the government can do to help you succeed,” he said. “It’s about what you can do to help America succeed.”

The president’s comments came as he sought to reassure the business community that he is not their adversary and to mend fences with their aggressive lobbying advocate in Washington.

“I’m here in the interest of being more neighborly,” Mr. Obama said, alluding to the contentious relationship he has had with the Chamber of Commerce over the past two years. “Maybe if we would have brought over a fruit cake when I first moved in, we would have gotten off on a better foot. But I’m going to make it up.”

The chamber has fiercely opposed most of Mr. Obama’s health care and banking agenda and spent more than $50 million during last year’s midterm elections to cast the president and his party as antibusiness and a threat to capitalism.

But the chamber, too, is eager to tone down the rhetoric, according to senior officials there. At the height of the high-profile fight with the White House, several big-name companies left its board, citing concern about the chamber’s opposition to the administration’s efforts.

In introducing Mr. Obama, Thomas J. Donohue, the Chamber of Commerce’s president, emphasized his group’s desire to work with the administration in areas where they might agree. Those include increasing free trade and exports, investing in technology and infrastructure and reducing the nation’s debt.

“I reaffirm the American business community’s absolute commitment to working with you and your administration to advancing our shared priorities,” Mr. Donohue said. “Our focus is finding a common ground to advancing America’s greatness.”

In his remarks, Mr. Obama praised Mr. Donohue for joining Richard L. Trumka, the A.F.L.-C.I.O. president, in helping to lobby Congress to invest in infrastructure and technology that the president announced in his State of the Union address last month.

“Tom Donohue and Richard Trumka are not Facebook friends,” Mr. Obama joked. “Maybe you are. I didn’t check on this. But they agree on the need to build a 21st-century infrastructure.”

And yet the détente is likely to reach only so far.

Mr. Donohue has warned of a “regulatory tsunami” that will result from Mr. Obama’s policies. In particular, he told reporters after the November elections last year that the health care law would produce hundreds of new burdens on American businesses.

“We cannot allow this nation to move from a government of the people to a government of the regulators,” Mr. Donohue said at the time. “Regulation is the vehicle by which some seek to control our economy, our businesses and our lives — and left unchecked, it will fundamentally weaken our nation’s capacity to create jobs and opportunity.”

And while Mr. Obama has initiated a review to determine whether there are unneeded regulations, he is standing by his health care law and insists he is not shifting his politics to the middle.

In an interview with Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly on Sunday, Mr. Obama said: “I’m the same guy. My practical focus, my common-sense focus right now is how do we out-innovate, out-educate, out-build, out-compete the rest of the world? How do we create jobs here in the United States of America? How do we make sure that businesses are thriving?”

That rhetoric — and Mr. Obama’s decision to address the chamber in the first place — has riled some liberal groups, who accused the president on Monday of consorting with the very forces they believe have worked to undercut his policies.

“Two weeks ago, the president promised that he would work to rebuild people’s faith in government,” said Erica Payne, the founder of the Agenda Project, a liberal organization in New York. “Meeting with the biggest lobbyists in the country is hardly a step in the right direction.”

But the White House has clearly made the decision that it needs to improve its relationship with the business community, even if that angers some of his core supporters. Several members of Mr. Obama’s administration, including Ray LaHood, the transportation secretary, attended the event on Monday, along with his new chief of staff, William M. Daley, and Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser.

Mr. Obama pledged to “go anywhere” in the world to promote trade, a line that prompted one of the few moments of applause from the crowd of business leaders.

Mr. Obama’s suggestion that businesses can help the economy recover by spending their reserves was met with skepticism by some in the audience. Harold Jackson, a executive at Buffalo Supply Incorporated, a medical supply company, called it naive.

“Any business person has to look at the demand to their company for their product and services, and make hiring decisions,” Mr. Jackson said. “I think it’s a little outside the bounds to suggest that if we hire people we don’t need, there will be more demand.”

Matthew Shay, president of the National Retail Federation, called Mr. Obama’s tone “a positive one” and said he hoped that the improving economy would encourage more businesses in his industry to began expanding.

“The retail industry sees some real opportunities for investment this year,” Mr. Shay said after the president’s speech. “I think the things the president said today are certainly more reassuring than anything we’ve heard the last two years.”

This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: February 7, 2011

An earlier version misstated the name of the Agenda Project and incorrectly reported that Gary Locke, the commerce secretary was in attendance.

View the original article here

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