Last night's State of the Union address was the culmination of a series of deft moves toward the center by President Barack Obama.  His recent overtures to the business community, extension of President Bush's tax cuts and naming of Bill Daley as his new chief of staff largely have been met with high praise.

Those moves contributed to an environment, which combined with some rather unique SOTU atmospherics, allowed the President to play to his rhetorical strengths.  It would be difficult to describe last night as anything less than a good night for the President.

Time will tell if the President's efforts to bridge the partisan divide are merely cosmetic, or if he's truly committed to substantive reform and reining in the country's substantial debt.

Over the course of the morning, I'll be tweeting some additional insight and perspective on the President's speech and policy proposals.  Hope you'll follow me @aogarza.

On a different note, I was in Austin, Texas last week for another landmark event, Governor Rick Perry's swearing in.  The Governor and I have been great friends for many years, and he was kind enough to ask that I work with him in putting together a delegation of leading business executives and governors from Mexico.  Rick made it clear to me that it was important that Mexico be well represented at his Inaugural celebration.

The group included Carlos Bremer, CEO of Value Grupo Financiero; Eduardo Tricio, CEO of Grupo Industrial Lala; Alejandro Marti, former CEO of Grupo Marti and now chairman of Mexico SOS; Alejandro Junco, CEO of Grupo Reforma, the newspaper conglomerate; as well as, Governor Egidio Torre of Tamaulipas and Governor Miguel Angel Osorio of Hidalgo.

All not only had the chance to meet privately with Gov. Perry but also with top Texas business executives including Red McCombs of McCombs Enterprises and Paul Foster, CEO of Western Refining Company.

This delegation represented more than a simple display of cross-border courtesy or bilateral solidarity.  My op-ed column that appeared in leading Texas newspapers, including the Houston Chronicle, tries to make just that point. You can read my Chronicle op-ed here, as well as news coverage of the visit in the San Antonio Express-News.

This delegation's presence demonstrates the significant opportunities for partnership and cross-border investment that exist in Mexico today, a point clearly highlighted in the latest JP Morgan's Emerging Markets Research report, Latin America and Caribbean Outlook 2011 (Jan. 2011). You can download this latest report here.

If you share my desire to build bridges of partnership and you are interested in discussing opportunities here in Mexico, I hope you'll keep White & Case and ViaNovo in mind.  Both firms are well positioned to provide guidance and support in the areas of cross-border business development, expansion or investment.

Antonio O. Garza

P.S. As much as Governor Perry denies any national ambitions, this New York Times piece certainly makes clear that he's very much a part of the discussion on where America is headed and who should lead in 2012.