Obama to address U.S. Chamber

President Obama will speak next month in front of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a spokeswoman for the organization confirmed Wednesday.

Obama will speak to the business group at a Feb. 7 meeting in a high-profile example of outreach from the administration to the business community.

The meeting will be a significant moment of outreach between the president and the Chamber, which sparred publicly in the closing weeks of the election season. Obama picked up on accusations that the business group had possibly accepted foreign money to support its political spending against a number of Democrats in the 2010 campaign. The Chamber vehemently denied those allegations.

The president also sparred with the Chamber over healthcare reform, Wall Street reform and new campaign finance disclosure proposals. The business group did back the president’s signature stimulus package, however.

Obama’s outreach could also be interpreted as just one of the latest sign of entreaties by the administration toward the business community, leaders of which had complained that the White House hadn’t sufficiently sought their input during the past two years.

The president has made other efforts this past month to help thaw those relations. Obama hosted a working meeting with business leaders at the Blair House in December, and he’s considering naming William Daley, a former Commerce secretary who currently serves as an executive at J.P. Morgan, as his next chief of staff.