Not Episodic'
"This meeting is not episodic; we think it will be continual," Motorola Inc. Co-CEO Greg Brown said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. "We agreed on a number of us engaging on different issues within the administration. It's not about optics, it's about delivery and we are all very focused on that."

Obama is generating more optimism among CEOs after a series of business-friendly overtures, including a deal to extend tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 and efforts to boost exports such as a U.S.-South Korea free-trade agreement and a loosening of controls on some technology sales.

The administration has been seeking to strengthen relationships with the business community following criticism from some executives and business groups, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, of the administration's overhaul of the health-care system and financial regulations. Obama said private companies are crucial to the U.S. climbing out of the worst recession since the Great Depression.

'Let's Restart'

"Things were said on both sides that shouldn't have been and did not further the opportunity to work together," Honeywell's Cote said as he arrived at Blair House yesterday. "This is our chance to do that. I give the president a lot of credit for being the man big enough to say 'Let's restart, let's work on how do we create a more vibrant economy.'"

David Fuller's view This thaw in relations between the White House and big business probably would not have occurred without last month's mid-term election results. It also helps to explain the subsequent improvement in the US stock market's relative performance.