Obama calls for quick economic stimulus package
He says if President Bush and Congress can't act before he takes office, it will be 'the first thing I get done' in the White House.
Reporting from Chicago — President-elect Barack Obama today called on Congress and President Bush to pass an economic stimulus package as soon as possible, saying it would be "the first thing I get done" in the White House if they fail to act before his inauguration.
In his first public remarks since his election day victory speech Tuesday, Obama invoked the administration's "sobering news" this morning that 240,000 more jobs were lost in October.
The Illinois senator also made clear that the political combat of the two-year-long presidential campaign has come to an end, at least for now. In a news conference at a Chicago hotel, he took pains not to second-guess Bush as the outgoing president continues to govern the country during the transition to an Obama White House.
"The United States has only one government and one president, and until Jan. 20 of next year, that government is the current administration," he said. "I have spoken to President Bush, and I appreciate his commitment to ensuring that his economic policy team keeps us fully informed as developments unfold."
Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden met at the hotel this morning with a team of 16 economic advisors, along with the incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. The group stood in a line behind Obama during his news conference, with a navy blue curtain and eight U.S. flags as their backdrop.
Obama's first public event since the election was partly a symbolic gesture to stress that he is focusing above all on the economy at a time of rising joblessness, plunging home prices and stock market losses that have ravaged the retirement savings of millions of Americans.
The meeting of Obama's transition economic advisory board came as the Bush administration is launching a $700-billion bailout for the nation's financial markets.
Decisions made in the next few weeks will have a major impact on the program -- which Obama, for the most part, will have to carry out.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said today that Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. has been sharing information with Obama's transition team and was "very interested in how the next administration will deal with the economic plans that he's putting in place."
"Remember, these are programs he's putting in place to deal with systemic risk in financial markets, and the last thing financial markets need right now is confusing signals and programs that might be started and changed in a very short time," Fratto said.
