Watching and listening to President Obama's first White House news conference inevitably invited a comparison to what had gone before — for eight years. And it was both satisfying and instructive.

In place of his predecessor's erratic combination of jocularity and cockiness, of arrogance and jumbled syntax, Obama offered somber analysis and articulate exposition, principally of the one central problem facing the nation now in his hands.

Instead of wisecracks at the expense of nicknamed reporters, there were businesslike and respectful exchanges that mostly stuck to the subject of the economic peril examined by the new president in a long and well-crafted opening summary and analysis.

Through the confident device of extensive responses to only 13 questions in the one-hour session, Obama dominated the event and kept it on track, underscoring his prime objective of rallying the public to his side in his first major clash with Congress.

To mildly expressed questioning of his largely rebuffed overtures of bipartisanship toward congressional Republicans, Obama had no hesitation in defending the effort. In doing so, he noted the poor track record of his critics in supporting the actions of the previous administration that had contributed to the current financial crisis.

In all, Obama demonstrated his talent for disagreeing without being disagreeable, a style that often escaped the grasp of his predecessor over the previous eight contentious years. Rather than offering any acknowledgment of futility in reaching out to the recalcitrant Republicans, he pointedly promised to persevere.

Obama capitalized on the partisan resistance to his massive economic recovery plan to underscore his campaign criticism of "the old ways of Washington," and his determination to break through what he called the "ideological rigidity" that has too often paralyzed Capitol Hill.

While Obama continued to preach bipartisanship, he allowed himself a few partisan thrusts at the Republicans and conservatives in general with a robust defense of deep governmental intervention in Wall Street, sacrosanct in so many GOP hearts.

"Now, you have some people, very sincere, who philosophically just think the government has no business interfering in the marketplace. And, in fact, there are several who've suggested that FDR was wrong to interfere back in the New Deal. They're fighting battles that I thought were resolved a pretty long time ago," he said.

This was a gentle jibe at conservative members of Congress and columnists who have sought to diminish Franklin Roosevelt's role in cutting unemployment in the Great Depression years, crediting American entry into World War II as the real savior.

Obama conceded there were legitimate grounds for differences over details in his economic stimulus package. But "the question I think the American people are asking is, do you just want government to do nothing, or do you want it to do something?" he said. Doing nothing, he insisted, was not an option.

The orchestration of this first full-blown, televised meeting with the press at the White House was also a study in deft public relations.

Earlier in the day, he flew to Elkhart, Ind., site of the fastest-growing unemployment rate in the nation, from 4.7 percent to 15.3 in a single year. In the subsequent session here, he referred repeatedly to Elkhart to illustrate the plight of average Americans and their demand that their government take action.

Notably, Obama entertained questions from specific reporters he called on by name, from a list he obviously had before him. It was a contrast from the first days of televised presidential news conferences in the Eisenhower administration, when reporters waved their hands and shouted for recognition. That exhibition drew viewers' allegations of lack of respect.

Thanks to the carefully crafted exchanges in Obama's maiden experience with the White House institution, both he and the press corps generated substance from the exercise that was not always in abundance in the previous eight years.

Reach Jules Witcover at (Unknown address).

Jules Witcover is a syndicated columnist with Tribune Media Services. Reach him at juleswitcover@earthlink.net.