Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Pundits React To Transition Thus Far

As Barack Obama begins to assemble his team, the pundits are weighing in on his selections and what they may say about his leadership style. Here is a sampling of Tuesday's transition-related op-eds.

• Eugene Robinson is alarmed by the power vacuum that seems to be developing as Obama and President Bush share the spotlight. "Having two presidents is starting to feel like having no president, and that's the situation we'll face until Inauguration Day. Heaven help us."
• E.J. Dionne lavishes praise on Obama's economic team, contending that "getting Timothy Geithner and former Treasury secretary Larry Summers working in harness is Obama's single biggest post-election victory."
• H.D.S. Greenway expresses reservations about Obama's selection of Hillary Rodham Clinton for secretary of State and maintains that "a team of rivals can have its down side."
• In the Philadelphia Inquirer, Cox Newspapers' Tom Teepen senses that so far "Obama seems to be disappointing his most ardent detractors and his most ardent supporters about equally" with his appointments. But, he says, "the impression grows of an emerging administration that may disappoint the right's eagerly fearful and the left's moonbeamers, but is being readied for the practical political work of forward-leaning change."
• Rich Lowry is thankful that "Obama's airy rhetoric about a new kind of politics was more a pitch for impressionable new voters than a description of his governing style," arguing that so far the president-elect "has acted with a ruthless pragmatism."
• In the Washington Times, Daniel Gallington, former general counsel for the Senate Intelligence Committee, who has "been through several transitions of government," asserts that the process is "pretty much like everything else that goes on in Washington: Like sausage, it's probably best not to see it made." He holds out hope, however, that Obama "understands the inherent weaknesses of the typical transition 'process,'" and is trying to do things differently.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Obama Names Economic Team, Puts Detroit On Notice

By DAVID HERBERT

President-elect Barack Obama introduced four of his top economic lieutenants this afternoon and said he was "surprised" the auto industry didn't have a better-thought-out proposal as Washington mulls a bailout package.

Word that Obama would tap Timothy F. Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, to lead the Treasury Department leaked late last week, and the president-elect made his nomination official today. Obama emphasized his pick's international experience, noting that he was raised partly in Africa and has worked in Asia.

"Having studied both Chinese and Japanese," Obama added, "Tim understands the language of today's international markets in more ways than one."

Obama also announced that Lawrence H. Summers, who served as Treasury secretary at the end of President Clinton's term, will direct the National Economic Council.

After the president-elect's prepared remarks, reporters twice pressed him on the size of any new economic stimulus package. Obama said he didn't "want to get into numbers right now," adding only that his new economic team would work together to find the right figure.

But Obama was less guarded about a potential auto industry bailout. He said that some action is needed because bankruptcies in Detroit would have a ripple effect on suppliers and other businesses. But he put the Big Three automakers on notice that he isn't impressed with their initial overtures for federal money.

"Taxpayers can't be expected to pony up more money for an auto industry that has been resistant to change," Obama said. "And I was surprised that they didn't have a better-thought-out proposal when they arrived in Congress."

To secure a federal bailout, Detroit needs to provide a longer-term vision of success, Obama added.

"Are they describing for us an auto industry that is focused on retooling, [that] understands we are entering into a new energy economy, that is going to be competitive globally?" he asked. "That's the kind of plan that the American people want to see."

Obama also tapped Christina D. Romer, an economics professor at the University of California-Berkeley, to direct the Council of Economic Advisers and named Melody C. Barnes, a former executive vice president for policy at the Center for American Progress, to direct the Domestic Policy Council. Barnes' appointment is already winning plaudits from progressives, many of whom have been disappointed by Obama's more centrist appointees thus far.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Obama Talks Economy In First Press Conference

By KEVIN FRIEDL



Barack Obama this afternoon held his first press conference of the transition period, detailing his plans for repairing the economy -- an issue that came to dominate the final months of the election season and will be among the incoming administration's most daunting tasks. The president-elect's remarks followed a meeting at the Chicago Hilton with his vice president, his newly appointed chief of staff and their team of economic advisers, who stood on stage behind Obama.

In his address, Obama repeated economic proposals familiar from his stump speeches, including the implementation of a "rescue plan for the middle class" featuring a second stimulus package, an extension of unemployment benefits and unspecified programs to boost job creation. Obama spoke also about the need to contain the financial crisis and carefully oversee the $700 billion rescue plan.

Although the president-elect's remarks focused exclusively on the economy, reporters in attendance directed their questions to his preparation for assuming the presidency. "There is no doubt that people want to know who's going to make up our team," Obama said when asked whether he felt time pressure to roll out his appointees. "I want to move with all deliberate haste, but I want to emphasize deliberate as well as haste."

Obama said he had spoken with every living ex-president, and was looking forward to meeting with President Bush on Monday. "Now's a good time for us to set politics aside for awhile and talk about what will actually work to move the economy forward, and it's in that spirit" that he would meet with Bush, he said. At another point, when asked about Iran, he reminded reporters, "I am not the president, and I won't be until January 20th."

Those in attendance at the meeting included Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker and Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Also present were four familiar faces from the Clinton White House: former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, former Commerce Secretary William Daley and former Treasury Secretaries Lawrence Summers and Robert Rubin. Investor and Obama supporter Warren Buffett was piped in via speakerphone.

According to a release sent out to reporters on Thursday, Obama will use the rest of the day to "attend additional transition meetings, receive his daily intelligence briefing, record the Democratic Radio Address and return additional post-election political and protocol calls."

Check back shortly for video of Obama's remarks.

UPDATE: Demonstrating their commitment to detail, the Obama campaign this afternoon released a seating chart of the day's meeting:


CORRECTION: The original version of this post misstated when Obama and Bush
would be meeting.