Tuesday, December 2, 2008 11:45 AM

Obama, Biden Talk Economy With Govs

By KEVIN FRIEDL

President-elect Barack Obama this morning addressed the National Governors Association meeting in Philadelphia, laying out the role he foresees state governments playing as both laboratories for and engines of the country's economy recovery.

"As president, I will not simply ask our nation's governors to help implement our economic recovery plan," Obama promised. "I will ask you to help design that plan."

Striking a cordial note, Obama reminded the governors that he had some familiarity with state-level governance and sympathized with their budgetary woes, pointing out that 41 states are expected to face budget shortfalls this year. He reached out as well to the Republicans in the room, telling them, "We are not going to be hampered by ideology in trying to get this country back on track. We want to figure out what works."

The GOP governors present included Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Sarah Palin of Alaska and Arnold Schwarzenegger of California -- as well as Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Rick Perry of Texas, who together wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today asking their fellow governors not to press for more federal money.

But despite the entreaty, reports this morning said that the state executives were expected to request some $176 billion from the federal government -- a figure not addressed by Obama, at least with news cameras rolling.

Obama was introduced by Vice President-elect Joe Biden, who, in his second public address since Election Day, stressed the need for investment in infrastructure. Biden detailed the administration's plans to fast-track funding for "ready-to-go" transportation projects and, in the longer term, to create a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank to manage the disbursement of funds.

The president-elect was lighter on policy specifics, although he briefly brought up his economy recovery plan and said it would create jobs and give tax cuts to "middle-class families." Instead, Obama's public addressed seemed designed to lay the groundwork for future federal-state partnerships with governors on both sides of the aisle.