Fight with Obama? What fight?

The TV crews pounced on U.S. Bancorp CEO Richard Davis Monday as he and a dozen other of the nation's top bank executives emerged from a 90-minute meeting with President Obama at the White House.

They wanted quick, pithy sound bites -- a feisty response, perhaps, to Obama's incendiary words Sunday on "60 Minutes," in which the President blasted "fat-cat bankers" for opposing tighter regulation and awarding themselves big bonuses while receiving taxpayer money.

What they got instead was the mild-mannered Davis, who had nothing but positive words to say about Obama and the whole issue of bank regulatory reform. "He didn't call us any names," Davis said, grinning. "We're in alignment on a lot of things," he added.

By day's end, Davis' face was as ubiquitous on national TV screens as Obama's, and Davis' upbeat message had helped to quash what had been a growing perception that the nation's big banks were digging in their heels against reform. If Obama had hoped to boost his sagging popularity ratings by picking a fight with unpopular bankers -- as some pundits suggested after Sunday's "60 Minutes" episode -- then the financial services industry could not have picked a better person to dial down the noise than Davis.

Indeed, in an interview several hours after the meeting, Davis said the bankers agreed when Obama exhorted them to become more involved in the reform process, and not to let lobbyists get in the way. Davis also said the banks and Obama have agreed to work together to find creative ways to free up lending.

"Right now, the lobbying groups are louder than we are," Davis said. "It shouldn't be that way."

But the full impact of Monday's meeting was difficult to gauge. Executives and Obama packed a number of complicated issues, including small business lending, loan modifications, executive compensation and regulatory overhaul, into a relatively short time frame.

"If there are good loans out there, the banks will find them, like rats on cheese," Boyd said. "Chastising them for not making loans does not do much good."

But Davis, who sat directly across from Obama during Monday's meeting, took issue with the suggestion that it was political theater. "I wouldn't be talking to you if it was," he said. The banks handed over specific ideas on ways they could improve small business lending and home loan modifications, while agreeing to become more "directly engaged" in regulatory reform rather than relying on their lobbyists.

For his part, Davis said U.S. Bancorp, the nation's sixth-largest bank, plans to take a second look at every small business loan it rejects. And he said he would present the idea to other members of the Financial Services Roundtable -- a group representing the nation's largest financial companies. Davis is the group's chairman.

Davis referred to Obama as a "good listener" who went around the room and asked for everyone's views, while occasionally jumping in to ask questions. Davis said the bank executives came with a minimum of staff and no lobbyists, which meant there were only about 18 people in the room. Obama, he said, took notes.

Finally, Davis dismissed the idea that the banks might have taken the "fat cats" comment personally. "We're not sensitive," he said, noting that Obama was speaking to a "different audience" when he went on 60 Minutes.