Rep. Giffords

President Barack Obama is enjoying a political upswing in the wake of a suprisingly productive lame-duck session at the end of 2010 and the shooting of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords earlier this month, political experts said Tuesday night as part of a panel discussion at the USC Annenberg School focused on the president's State of the Union speech.

Obama was well-received during his address at the memorial service on Jan. 12 for the Tucson shooting. Prior to that, Congress' lame-duck session yielded the notable repeal of the controversial Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ban of gay service members, a topic which the president went on to highlight during his address.  Both were positive poltiical moments for a president whose performance post-midterm losses was being questioned.

The expert panel consisted of Geoffrey Cowan, the Director of USC’s Annenberg School of Communication; Kate Mather, a former editor of the Daily Trojan; and Dan Schnur, Director of USC’s Unruh Institute of Politics. The panel was intended to discuss the expected content of President Obama’s speech, but ended up mostly centering on President Obama’s perceived shift to the political middle.

Cowan drew attention to President Obama’s track record over the past two years. On issues such as immigration, Iraq, and Afghanistan “you have to say that he has been at least [fairly] centrist all along," Cowan said.

It is the framing of his presidency that affects the American public’s perception of Obama and his performance over the past two years. Cowan said Americans are seeing a “wave of good luck” for the President and this State of the Union address will likely just “solidify this wave” rather than redefine his political orientation.

The panel then turned to the topic of the 2012 Presidential election, and to what extent the evening’s speech would reflect Obama’s reelection ambitions. While all three panelists reiterated that Mr. Obama must continue to operate from the political middle, Cowan said doing so could further alienate the far left of the Democratic Party. Schnur countered by pointing out that any defection by progressives could be prevented by playing on their fear of the far right.

Reach reporter Max Jennings here.