MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:
You're listening to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News.
Now, a dispatch from the House Democrats' retreat. The rank-and-file have spent the last few days on Maryland's Eastern Shore for their annual gathering. They're strategizing for the year to come. And today, President Obama flew out to join them and to offer a pep talk.
NPR's Andrea Seabrook headed out to the shore as well, and she sent this report.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Ho.
ANDREA SEABROOK, BYLINE: The head of the Democratic Caucus, John Larson, whipped up the crowd. Democrats, he said, came out of the president's State of the Union address this week with a fresh, new message...
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN LARSON: That reignited and energized this caucus...
(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
LARSON: ...but more importantly, the American people inspired. We came here to work.
SEABROOK: Lawmakers jumped to their feet, cheering the arrival of the Democrat in chief.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Thank you.
SEABROOK: President Obama recapped many of the themes in his State of the Union speech, stressing manufacturing, bringing outsourced jobs back to the U.S., leveling the playing field, he said, for the middle class.
OBAMA: We are focusing on companies that are investing right here in the United States because we believe that when you make it in America, everybody benefits, everybody does well.
SEABROOK: The president also talked about the biggest thorn in his side: the House Republicans. In their year in the majority, the GOP and Democrats have tussled over even the most basic functions of government. Voters are starting to understand that, said Mr. Obama, but that doesn't mean Democrats should stop trying to work with them.
OBAMA: Wherever we have an opportunity, wherever there is the possibility that the other side is putting some politics aside for just a nanosecond in order to get something done for the American people, we've got to be right there ready to meet them. We've got to be right there ready to meet them.
SEABROOK: Americans are facing too many problems right now to stop trying, the president said.
OBAMA: On the other hand, where they obstruct, where they're unwilling to act, where they're more interested in party than they are in country, more interested in the next election than the next generation, then we've got to call them out on it.
(SOUNDBITE OF APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
OBAMA: We've got to call them out on it.
SEABROOK: That's a preview of Democrats' election message: They've done everything they can, they'll say, and Republicans have played politics. Vice President Joe Biden spoke to the lawmakers earlier today, wondering out loud how the GOP can expect to govern when compromise is a dirty word.
VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Who do you make a deal with? Who can you reach out and shake hands with and say, we have a bargain? That's the way this country has always functioned.
SEABROOK: And as for the Republican presidential hopefuls, Biden said whoever is nominated, whether it's Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney or someone else, he will provide a stark contrast to how the Democrats approach governing.
BIDEN: When these guys out there are saying let Detroit go bankrupt or poor people have no habit of working or the Barack Obama is the food stamp president, I think it's not just political theater. I really think they believe it.
SEABROOK: That, said Biden and President Obama, may be an advantage for Democrats this election year. The message they're sending is so very different from the Republicans', they said, that come November, the choice voters have will be crystal clear. Andrea Seabrook, NPR News, Cambridge, Maryland.