By Steve Holland WASHINGTON – US President Barack Obama took some tentative steps towards the political centre in his State of the Union speech. Wary Republicans are interested, but not yet ready to dance. The bottom line? No significant reconciliation between the battling parties is evident yet. But there may be room for compromise on some issues. Obama, forced to refocus his agenda in response to voter anger over the high jobless rate in an election year, opened a new search for common ground after spending his first year relying largely on Democrats to push his agenda forward. With healthcare stalled after the election of a Republican senator from Massachusetts created a subtle shift in power in the Senate, Obama switched gears, giving secondary roles to priorities like healthcare and climate change. In his State of the Union address, he dangled some tempting treats to Republicans: more nuclear power plants and offshore drilling, more US exports and small business tax credits. "He moved centre-right," said presidential historian Douglas Brinkley. "Instead of bailouts and stimulus money being thrown at the economy, the reset is going to be government working for big infrastructure projects, to get Republicans and corporate support." Republicans did make some encouraging noises. "It was welcome news that the president was for more offshore drilling, more domestic production of oil and gas. I don't think I've heard the president be more forceful when it comes to the expansion of nuclear energy in the United States," said the Republican leader in the US House of Representatives, John Boehner. And Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell liked the focus on jobs. "The president and I agree on the need to meet in the middle to find bipartisan agreement to grow jobs," he said. But Republicans who have managed a comeback from the political graveyard by resisting Obama were intrigued only to a point. They hope they can convert voter disenchantment with Obama into big gains against Democrats in November congressional elections, and have little inclination to help a man they feel blames them for most of what ails America.
