What to watch for Tuesday night

President Obama on Tuesday will address a joint session of Congress -- televised live at 8 p.m. CST -- giving him another chance to make his case for the rush of actions he's already taken -- and for what's yet to come. "This is huge for him," said Leila Brammer, a scholar of presidential communications at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn. "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." But how he'll use the moment?

First, will he reach out to the Republicans?

Obama enjoys having Republicans over for drinks, and they like him. However, they felt free to vote against his economic stimulus plan and rushed to challenge his housing rescue plan even before he announced it. And their choice to give the Republican response on Tuesday? Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who may refuse to accept some of the money in the stimulus package.

Obama could continue to talk 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.

"Republicans don't seem to think they need to play ball with him right now," said Dante Scala, a political scientist at the University of New Hampshire. "There's no fear yet of President Obama."

Will Obama use his speech to remind them that some voted against the stimulus, then went home to brag about the benefits?

"His goal will be to make the Republican [fence] sitters on key policies seem out of step, obstructionist and dangerous to the future of the country," said Penni Pier, an associate professor of communication arts at Wartburg College in Iowa. "He may not be that direct, but certainly the implication will be there."

Second, how specific will he be about his upcoming plans?

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.

He also may talk about whether his proposed budget, a summary of which will be released Thursday, will include more money for health care, as he promised in the campaign.

"He's personally very popular. But he's proposed the largest peacetime spending in American history. And some of what he proposes to do is controversial," said G. Terry Madonna, a political scientist at Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania.

Third, will he continue the dire economic warnings or employ a more upbeat voice?

Since Election Day, Obama's traded campaign talk of hope and "yes, we can" for a more sober message of hard times.

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 was meant to prod Congress.

Now that he's achieved his first big initiatives, however, does he need to start building up confidence so that frightened consumers will start to spend?

"He has to reach a balance between realism about the current economic environment and the future," Madonna said.

He could do that in the way he closes the speech.

Said Brammer of Gustavus Adolphus College: "He will need to leave us with a sense of hope, of overcoming and preserving."

MCCLATCHY NEWS SERVICE