Goldman Sachs will today announce that life is pretty much back to normal: billions of dollars in quarterly profit and record pay set aside for employees at the firm known for running circles around the rest of Wall Street.

Hoping to defuse a politically combustible situation, Goldman officials have been mounting a soft-sell campaign that pushes the usually reticent company into the spotlight. For months, the New York firm has been working to dispel what it sees as misperceptions about itself to make its profit and bonuses go down easier, from a lobbying push in Washington to media interviews in which Goldman chief executive Lloyd Blankfein reminisces about his humble roots.