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Just today, President-elect Obama addressed the nation in his first official press conference after being elected on to the office of the Presidency on Tuesday.
Here is the full video of Obama’s statement and the press conference:
Full transcript of Obama’s remarks here.
At least he did acknowledge that the Bush administration is in charge until January, though they will be working closely with regard to economic policies and decisions until that time. He deferred a bit on foreign policy issues.
Also today, Obama seeking advice on the current economic issues, report from AOL News:
CHICAGO (Nov. 7) — President-elect Barack Obama is calling on economic experts to discuss the first steps toward healing a damaged economy as he forms a new administration in the face of a worsening crisis.
“We’re not starting from nowhere,” said Lawrence Summers, a Treasury secretary under President Clinton and one of the 17 members of Obama’s transition economic advisory board who were to meet Friday with Obama.
“Throughout his campaign the president-elect has been talking about what we need to do. We need to put the middle class at the center of the policy approach in a way that it hasn’t been these last years,” Summers told NBC’s “Today.”
Leaders of business, government and academia to meet with Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden include executives from Xerox Corp., Time Warner Inc., Google Inc. and the Hyatt hotel company. Investor Warren Buffett was participating by telephone.
It was to be Obama’s first public appearance since Tuesday’s election, where exit polls showed that the economy was far and away the top issue for voters. More evidence of a recession came Friday when the government reported that the unemployment rate had jumped from 6.1 percent in September to 6.5 percent in October.
Obama has been meeting privately with his transition team, receiving congratulatory phone calls from U.S. allies and intelligence briefings, and making decisions about who will help run his government.
His first choice, for White House chief of staff, was Rahm Emanuel, a fiery partisan unafraid of breaking glass and hurting feelings. The choice of Emanuel is a significant departure from the soft-spoken, low-key aides that “No-Drama Obama” surrounded himself with during the campaign. And transition chief John Podesta, like Emanuel, is a former top aide to President Clinton and a tough partisan infighter, though less bombastic than the new chief of staff.
The selections are telling for Obama, who campaigned as a nontraditional, almost “post-partisan” newcomer. People close to him say the selections show he is aware of his strengths and weaknesses, and knows what he needs to be successful as he shifts from campaigning to governing.
Transition spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said Obama would not announce any personnel appointments Friday.
Obama also was holding his first news conference as president-elect after the meeting.
This seems like a different tone considering the fact that Obama has spoken against large corporations throughout the campaign. However, it seems like a list of the most promising private corporations in the country he’s seeking advice from.
Also, President Bush is working to ensure a smooth transition to an Obama administration, story from AOL News:
WASHINGTON (Nov. 6) – President Bush says he’ll meet with President-elect Barack Obama next week as his administration works to achieve a seamless transition of power to the Democrat.
Bush talked outside the White House as he gathered with a host of Executive Mansion and administration workers to urge cooperation with the Obama team on the transition that will take place over the next 75 days.
Bush said that “this peaceful transfer of power is one of the hallmarks of our democracy.” And he warned that the United States would be vigilant against any attempts by enemies to take advantage of the country during its period of transition.
The Bush administration is providing security clearances, working space and policy briefings to President-elect Obama’s team as the transformation of the White House gets fully under way. World leaders are calling for Obama, and the White House is helping to get them connected.
“All of us here at the White House have a special responsibility to ensure that the next president and his team hit the ground running,” White House press secretary Dana Perino said Thursday.
Preparation for the complex transition process has quietly been unfolding for about a year, but only accelerated with the nation’s election on Tuesday of Obama, the Democratic senator from Illinois. He will be sworn in as the country’s 44th president in 75 days.
This is a very classy move of President Bush who clearly is indeed trying to put the country first. If one remembers, the transition from Clinton to Bush back in 2001 was anything but “smooth” considering the White House was vandalized by Clinton staffers and W’s were ripped off computer keyboards.
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ummmm uhhhhh ummmmmm well you see ummmmm uhhhhhhh hmmmmmmmm maybe i should insult Nancy Regan ummmm hmmmmmmmm hypo allergenic dog ummmmmmm i will confront the economic crisis but i wont say how! ummmmm where the hells my teleprompter? my neck is stiff as hell from looking down at my prewritten speech! ummmmmm ok i will take question. wont answer the tough ones about raising taxes but ummmmmm hmmmm…..
now let me just say that this election was a referendum on the intelligence of the American people.
we fail.
miserably.
seriously?
a community organizer?
that hasnt a clue.
that is more worried about looking presidential than addressing the issues.
gonna be a long four years. very long and painful.
Are you on antidepressants, benzodiazapines, antipsychotics, or antiseizure medications?
If not, try some.
No wait, why don’t we just sell do bipolar patients to totally reverse their manic phase.
You could ruin a wet dream.
Are you capable of saying something NOT negative?
P.S. I am all for Obama making community service a requirement for students. There are plenty of educational requirements that are pointless, especially for us college students.
Why do I need to take applied ethics, humanities, foreign languages, public speaking, american government, ect… to graduate. If I do not take these places I am not eligible for graduateion at my college. These courses will not assist me in my major. The likely answer is that it will make me a ethical person who knows about my history and the history of my country. I will help me to be a better speaker and/or more well rounded individual.
But learning the positive force of community service would be making me an indentured servant. Hrmmm.. I’d have to disagree with you on that one Nate. There are even more educational requirements in college, high school, and middle school that are of no real good use, but community service would do a great deal for the growing minds of future adults in this country. If you don’t think so, go out and volunteer in your community, or in other communities that are in need. It is a wonderful feeling and it truly does help.
I volunteer in a medical clinic and at a St. Vincent kitchen.
I get paid $28/hr as an RN, and I also volunteer for free as an RN. There are people who really need help, and I once was one of those people that had to go to the very same free medical clinic during college, when I did not have insurance. Now I am giving back to it. I volunteered for habitat for humanity, at an all children’s hospital, nursing homes, and was a member of various clubs in college that did various community service. Though none of this was required.
I think when you hear “required” you feel as though you are enslaved. Yet there are many things we, as students, and people, are required to do that we don’t even question. Community service, in my heart, is one of those things that we SHOULD do and NOT feel as though we are a slave to the government for doing so.
Kendale–You are off the site here, but Nate article now is a update
First one it was required. No pay
Update program is voluntary. College student paid $4,000 for X number of voluntee work.
I guess Obama’s site received e-mails and corrected. That is my hunch.
It was a very volatile time during the hand off from Bill Clinton to GW Bush. But then, the circumstances were at their worst. A character assassination that almost led to the removal of a Democratic President, and the nail-biting finish that required a Supreme Court verdict against popular vote to declare a Republican victory.
In no way am I condoning the vandals that apparently tore up the keyboards– I am simply saying that comparing this period to the previous presidential change is very very different, both in climate and in public support.
“Are you capable of saying something NOT negative?”
dude! that was a spot on summary of his pc. dont you start blaming me for your false messiahs stupidity. ok?
he was asked if he was going to raise taxes on high income earners and he didnt answer. hmmm wonder why? he is now president elect and refuses to answer the tough questions. he is no longer on the campaign trail, he is now elected and has obligations to us the American people.
you see Kendale this is where rhetoric and theory meet reality and people are going to be pissed when they realize Obama cannot keep his word.
the way i see it there are two possible options now for Obama. he can either prove he was a liar on the campaign trail or he can attempt to keep his word and destroy our economy completely.
reality Kendale. if Obama raises taxes how many more people do you think will now make less than $250,000? how many people have already pulled thier investments out of wall street? how many more jobs will get slashed by small business owners?
reality. its unavoidable, even for the false messiah.
not to mention he has to produce his birth certificate by Dec 1st to the supreme court. lol. reality.
The only people I know calling Obama the “ONE” or Messiah or Savior are conservative right wingers on this web site. I’m glad you think of Obama so highly, but it’s a bit over the top, so maybe you should stop.
actually Mike im pretty sure it was the MSM and Farrakhan that started calling him the messiah. also wasnt it Oprah that first called him the one?
Obama’s Radio Address
Audio – http://otrans.3cdn.net/a9.....6ztacs.mp3
Transcript – http://thepage.time.com/t.....o-address/
“While we must recognize that we only have one President at a time and that President Bush is the leader of our government, I want to ensure that we hit the ground running on January 20th because we don’t have a moment to lose.”
Frankly, I don’t know what many people see in Obama. He is a lousy liar, a man without a moral compass. That should matter to people, rather than his supposed “charm” of personality.
We are about to give the outside world a different impression about us. For centuries now America has been known to be one of the civilised and democratic nations. Our inability to move with time and events like our leaders have done will not tell well on us. The campaign period is over. The struggle for political leadership is over. The American people have decided and that is what the outside world knows. That is what our leaders have demonstrated by accepting the elections results.
Please lets abide by that and furge ahead. This is the time for unity and a time for acrimony. The burden ahead cannot be addressed by acrimony but unity in purpose. Please allow me to remind all bloggers that our comments are read by the whole world and there’s a saying that “How home sells you so outside will buy you”. By this I mean, how we present our leaders so the world will perceive not only the leaders but America as a whole. Unity is strength!
Mike A
So Oprah is a conservative….. Alright !
I did not know that
CS
Does Flim Flam Man fit ?
EricF,
You were picked on as a kid huh?
You want soooo bad to be right about everything I bet.
You seem like the type to cry that you’re right when you know that you are wrong.
If Obama says the sky is blue, you’ll tell him, no it isn’t, the ocean water is blue and the sky’s color is just the reflection of the ocean water. See, obama is not fit to be president! Told you so! LoL
It’s ok, I suppose every website needs a pessimist.
Then again I am the optimist. Obama will do just as good as any other man stuck in the worst possible job in the country. All presidential candidates want to do good for their country. The thing is, they have no clue as to what they are up against until after the transition. Then they realize what only the president can realize. His goals are going to be shattered by the reality of a screwed up nation. All any president can do is push as hard as they can to get as much good done as reality will allow.
Then again I’m sure you will say McCain is the man, oooh, he is so much more capable of turning the US into a perfect land of milk and honey. He got raped in a POW camp, that means he is the good guy.
Kendale, the personal attacks are cheap, especially the one you make here:
“He got raped in a POW camp, that means he is the good guy.”
To disagree with obama’s policies out the gate is expected. He’s no longer the hopeful candidate, he’s a president elect that doesn’t look quite so presidential anymore. In fact, in this press conference, he appears absolutely overwhelmed.
Some 55 and a half million people went to the polls and said the office of the presidency was above obama’s pay grade. You’ll not change that with your insults. Only obama can change that with his actions, and so far – with his first press conference – he is failing. We’re allowed to say that, we’re still free Americans.
My comments on the press conference. First of all, I’m sure our enemies will be happy to hear that our National Intelligence could use “some improvement”. Bad move, politically based I understand, but bad PR for the US with our enemies. We are the Super Power in the world, if there ARE chinks in our armor, our enemies should be the last to know it. Foreign policy 101.
Secondly, he should try to be on time for history making events like his first press conference.
Thirdly, try not to insult former First Ladies anymore – tacky to say the least.
Fourthly, try to look as presidential and confident now that you have the office as you did as a cocky candidate on the stump. Never let them see you sweat.
And lastly, don’t brush off the duties you DO have now. Kudos to you for recognizing that Pres. Bush is indeed still our President. However, the president of Iran didn’t write a letter to Pres. Bush, he wrote it to you, Mr. obama. Your excuses for not acknowledging the strong language in the letter, or even the letter itself, makes you look very weak, and when you look weak, the US looks weak. If you cannot deal with a simple letter written directly to you by a man you’ve promised to talk to unconditionally, please step back and give your vice president the lead on this one. Foreign affairs is his forte, and the reason you chose him. No response sends a message to our enemies, and it’s not a good one.
My opinion. And the 1st amendment is still in effect in this country.
Kendale
“Then again I’m sure you will say McCain is the man, oooh, he is so much more capable of turning the US into a perfect land of milk and honey. He got raped in a POW camp, that means he is the good guy”
Compared to Obama…I know everthing possible about McCain. A man of honor, fairness, and outstanding qualites of Superman. The finest Congressman. And know his complete life history.
Can not say much of anything about Obama. History is minumal. We can all agree he is well educated and a great speaker. Except one time in the drive way of a ordinary mam.
Babs – “Foreign policy 101.”
Lol. where did you take that class, Babs? Or is this Bush 101 and the name of the class changed.
Question : “ANything to say about the state of US intelligence?”
Answer : “If there was something i heard than I couldn’t tell you… General statement, our intelligence process can always improve and it has gotten better but beyond that I don’t think I can comment.”
Sounded like he was just saying that the process can always improve… as in, i hope it is always improving or else, we would be following behind. He didn’t say out intelligence is in adequate.
Babs – “Your excuses for not acknowledging the strong language in the letter, or even the letter itself, makes you look very weak, and when you look weak, the US looks weak.”
Under Bush 101, not talking to our enemies makes America look strong and I believe you have pointed out that you were against meeting with IRAN, last time I remember you posting on this topic. So brushing off a letter is right up your ally.
However, he didn’t brush off the letter just said that he needs to be careful with a response. This is to make sure Iran gets the appropriate response and to not stop on the current presidents toes while he is still in office.
Obama has a steep hill to climb to get your vote babs. I am pretty sure you are already getting ready for the 2012 campaign against him.
I am not holding my breath because if he stutters once you are all over him like white on rice. however, that is the nature of the beast. He is not your candidate so it is understandable that you don’t see eye to eye with him.
I am glad that he’s going to become president. He’s going to make sure that this country is proud of where we live. If you guys don’t agree with me you can email me at
playa_pimp_20062001@yahoo.com
i know what he means about the middle class people. this economy needs improvements.
So Oprah’s hyperbolic comments from nearly a year ago are the reason for your continual dubbing of Obama as the “One?” And Farakhan and the ENTIRE media have called him the Messiah? Hmmm. Really? Where? And this is still going on? Because I watch the news and read quite a bit from different sources such as this website and, as I said before, the people I currently hear calling him such ridiculously lavish titles are right-wing conservatives like the people on this website, and also folks like Hannity, Limbaugh, and their listeners and web-writers. You should stop calling him these things in the midst of attacking him. It shows how flimsy and retroactive you must be in order to wield irony and insult. Unless you actually believe those things, which I find insane.
Mike A
“You should stop calling him these things in the midst of attacking him.”
Your logic has convinced me to stop. From now on, I will call him..Flem Flam Man..
Mike A
“the people I currently hear calling him such ridiculously lavish titles are right-wing conservatives like the people on this website, and also folks like Hannity, Limbaugh, and their listeners and web-writers. You should stop calling him these things in the midst of attacking him. It shows how flimsy and retroactive you must be in order to wield irony and insult. Unless you actually believe those things, which I find insane.”
Thank-you for the compliment
Mike A
For such a steep learned man, to insult is beneath you
Thanks Bill. Yur allrighttt!!!
Mike A
I know there must be a reason for you being so silly