Obama open to compromise on $825B stimulus bill

WASHINGTON – On the eve of a key vote, President Barack Obama privately promised Republicans he stands ready to accept changes in the $825 billion economic stimulus legislation, invoked Ronald Reagan to rebut conservative critics and urged lawmakers to "put politics aside" in the interest of creating jobs.
"The American people expect action," Obama said Tuesday as he shuttled between closed-door meetings with House and Senate Republicans on a trip to the Capitol that blended substance with political symbolism.
Republicans who attended the sessions said the president did not agree to any specific changes but did pledge to have his aides consider some that GOP lawmakers raised dealing with additional tax relief for businesses.
Prodded to budge on another point, Obama said that despite opposition, he will insist on giving relief to wage-earners who pay Social Security taxes but do not earn enough to owe income tax. His spokesman said the president reminded his critics that former President Reagan — conservative hero to many contemporary Republicans — supported the same concept while in the White House.
In a measure of the complex political dynamic in Congress, House Republican leaders urged their rank and file to oppose the stimulus measure hours before Obama arrived.
One Republican later quoted the president as saying any changes would have to come after the House gives what is expected to be largely party-line approval Wednesday to the Democratic-backed bill. Debate began late in the day on the measure, which includes about $550 billion in spending and roughly $275 billion in tax cuts. Democrats made one small change, voting to delete $20 million intended for renovating the National Mall. Republicans had criticized the expenditure as wasteful.
In the Senate, traditionally more bipartisan than the House, a companion bill grew to roughly $900 billion. That included a new tax break for upper middle-income taxpayers, at a one-year cost of $70 billion. It was advanced by Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, senior Republican on the Finance Committee.
Democratic leaders in both houses have promised to have legislation ready for Obama's signature by mid-February, and Tuesday's developments coincided with fresh evidence of deterioration in a national economy seemingly growing weaker by the day.
Housing prices tumbled by the sharpest annual rate on record in November, according to a closely watched private report released during the day, and a measure of consumer confidence dropped to a historic low.
Separately, the Treasury Department announced distribution of $386 million to 23 troubled banks, the first awards from the federal bailout fund since Obama took office a week ago.
Obama traveled to and from the Capitol in a snowy motorcade on Tuesday, far different from the inaugural parade seven days earlier. This was a business trip, marking his second reach across party lines in as many days in keeping with a pledge to seek bipartisan solutions to major problems.
On Monday, he leaned on House Democrats to jettison an item that would make it easier for states to provide family planning funds for the poor under Medicaid, a provision in the legislation that had become a target of ridicule for Republicans. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama supports the concept but wants it included in a different bill.
Ironically, Democrats said deleting the provision would wind up increasing federal spending, since it probably would mean more money spent on higher pregnancy and postnatal care.
House Republican leaders welcomed the president a few hours after urging their rank-and-file to oppose the stimulus bill, and it was far from clear that Obama had managed to pick up any GOP support during the day.
Gibbs said the White House expects some GOP lawmakers will vote for the measure on Wednesday in the House, and indicated he hopes there will be more in the Senate and even more later when a final compromise is reached.
One Republican senator, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the president pledged to Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., to have aides review two specific proposals. One would affect businesses that pay down their debt. The other would provide a temporary tax holiday for companies that have money overseas and bring it back to the United States to invest.
Obama ventured into an uncertain political environment when he stepped into the Capitol, a president with high approval ratings pitching a plan that also has been favorably received in the polls.
Republicans, on the other hand, are trying to regroup after last fall's elections, in which they lost the White House as well as seats in both houses of Congress. While some conservatives seem eager to mount a frontal attack on Obama and his plans, others are pursuing a strategy of criticizing congressional Democrats rather than the president.
Hours earlier, according to officials who were present at a GOP meeting, none of the Republicans in attendance spoke up in disagreement when urged to oppose the legislation by their leaders. Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the party's leader, and Eric Cantor of Virginia, the second in command, said they wanted "100 percent" opposition to the measure, which they argue includes billions in wasteful spending, these officials said.
Across the Capitol, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell suggested that Democrats in Congress were the problem, not the president.
"We think the country needs a stimulus," McConnell said on NBC's "Today" show. But he also said that he believes most people do not believe recovery can be accomplished through projects like "fixing up the Mall," a reference to funding to repair the National Mall in Washington.
He said Republicans want a bill that devotes 40 percent of its total to tax cuts.
Some conservatives were far more blunt.
"While the president was genial, his proposal remains rooted in a liberal, big-government ideology that ignores history," said Rep. Tom Price of Georgia, head of the conservative Republican Study Committee in the House.
Complicating the Republican position was evidence of support among the nation's governors for the legislation taking shape.
The measure includes more than $120 billion in aid to schools, some of it to protect them from the effects of state budget cuts in a time of recession. It also provides more than $80 billion additional funding for Medicaid, the state-federal program that provides health care for low-income people, and $40 billion more to help people who have recently lost their jobs hold onto employer-provided health care. Another $32 billion is ticketed for transportation projects, and $30 billion more for water projects and rail and mass transit.
Obama's centerpiece tax cut would provide $500 per worker and $1,000 per couple for low and middle-income wage earners, including those who do not earn enough to owe income taxes.

Celebration over, Obama plunges into workday one

WASHINGTON – On his first full day in the White House, Barack Obama stepped into the Oval Office for the first time as president and summoned economic advisers and top military officials to meetings aimed at making early progress on the change he promised.

A prayer breakfast at Washington National Cathedral and an open house at the presidential mansion were also on the schedule of the 44th president, taking office on a promise to fix the battered economy and withdraw U.S. troops from the unpopular war in Iraq on a 16-month timetable.

Obama's first White House meetings as president meshed with quickened efforts in Congress to add top Cabinet officials to the roster of those confirmed on Tuesday and to advance the economic stimulus measure that is a top priority of his administration.

Treasury Secretary-designate Tim Geithner was called before the Senate Finance Committee for a confirmation hearing certain to touch on his disclosure that he had only belatedly paid personal taxes owed earlier in the decade.

Separately, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., awaited confirmation as secretary of state. Republicans had refused to permit her confirmation on Tuesday when several other Cabinet officials were approved.

A new poll underscored the sense of anticipation that accompanied Obama into office.

The Associated Press-Knowledge Networks survey found that by a 3-1 margin, people feel more optimistic about the country's future now that Obama has been inaugurated, including 30 percent of Republicans.

"Tonight, we celebrate. Tomorrow, the work begins," Obama said Tuesday night at the Commander in Chief Ball, one of 10 official black-tie celebrations he whirled through with his wife Michelle.

After getting to the White House around 1 a.m., Obama ventured into the Oval Office for the first time as president around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

The meeting with economic advisers, called for later in the day, came at a time when 11 million Americans are out of work and millions more feel the loss of savings and face the prospect of foreclosures on their homes.

Last week, Congress cleared the way for use of a second, $350 billion installment of financial-industry bailout money, a pre-inaugural victory for Obama.

Democratic leaders hope to have the $825 billion economic stimulus measure to his desk by mid-February.

"Fortunately, we've seen Congress immediately start working on the economic recovery package, getting that passed and putting people back to work," Obama said in an ABC News interview. "That's going to be the thing we'll be most focused on."

The war in Iraq that he has promised to end featured prominently in Obama's first day as well.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, were among those called in for the meeting as the new president assumed the role of commander in chief.

In his inaugural address on Tuesday, Obama said his goal was to "responsibly leave Iraq to its people and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan."

The two unfinished wars are twinned for Obama. He has promised to bring U.S. combat troops out of Iraq within 16 months of taking office, as long as doing so wouldn't endanger either the Americans left behind for training and terrorism-fighting nor the security gains in Iraq. And he has said he would use that drawdown to bolster the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, where U.S.-backed fighters are losing ground against a resurgent Taliban.

Among the possibilities for early executive actions are: the naming of a Middle East envoy, critical at a time of renewed hostilities between Israelis and the Palestinians; an order closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a move that will take considerable time to execute and comes on the heels of a suspension of war crimes trials there pending a review; prohibiting — in most cases — the harsh interrogation techniques for suspected terrorists that have damaged the U.S. image around the globe; overturning the so-called Mexico City policy that forbids U.S. funding for family planning programs that offer abortion, and lifting President George W. Bush's limit on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.

After historic day, Obama set to tackle agenda

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Barack Obama, fresh from the pageantry of his historic inauguration, will turn on Wednesday toward his goals of rescuing the economy, charting a new course for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and shaping his approach to the Middle East conflict.

Obama has pledged bold and swift action to deal with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. He has also asked Americans for patience in grappling with challenges both foreign and domestic that will take time to resolve.

With financial markets reeling and job losses mounting, Obama will meet with his economic advisers, who are working with the Democratic-led Congress on an $825 billion fiscal stimulus package.

He also is seeking fresh approaches to repair the battered financial system and is mulling a host of ideas, including the creation of a government-run bank that would buy up toxic assets from ailing U.S. banks.

The aim is to rekindle the flow of the credit to the economy so businesses and consumers can get access to loans.

Iraq and Afghanistan will dominate Obama's foreign policy agenda, but he has also said he will take an active role to try to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

He may move quickly to name a Middle East envoy and is strongly considering George Mitchell, a former U.S. senator and veteran international troubleshooter, for the job.

In addition to the economic meeting, Obama will also sit down with top military officials to discuss Iraq and Afghanistan.

He has said he favors a 16-month timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and U.S. officials said that in his meeting with military leaders, he would discuss the possibility of accelerating their departure.

Obama also will discuss plans to bolster troops in Afghanistan as he meets with a Pentagon delegation led by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Gen. David Petraeus, the former Iraq commander credited with pulling the country from the brink of civil war, was to attend Wednesday's meeting after flying back from Afghanistan.

SECRETARY OF STATE

A Senate vote is expected on Wednesday on Obama's nomination of Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.

But he will begin his new administration without a Treasury secretary. His nominee for the job, Tim Geithner, will face questions from a Senate panel about his past failure to pay some taxes.

Geithner has said the tax problem stemmed from an error and several senators have said they thought the issue would not prevent his confirmation.

Obama has found a receptive audience on Capitol Hill for his call for aggressive action to help the economy and hopes to garner bipartisan support for the massive stimulus package.

But Republicans have raised questions about the package, including how quickly the money will be spent and whether certain projects will actually kick-start the economy, which has been in a recession for over a year.

Obama is pressing for passage of the package by mid-February.

Frenetic street scene awakens capital before dawn

WASHINGTON – The National Mall swelled into a vast, pulsing scene of expectation Tuesday as excited crowds clogged mass transit lines and security checkpoints to witness the swearing-in of President-elect Barack Obama.

Energized by the historic moment, hundreds of thousands of people turned this city's orderly grid of streets into a festive party scene. Ready to endure below-freezing temperatures, they streamed up from subway stations and thronged past parked buses, emergency vehicles and street vendors, bound for Pennsylvania Avenue and the National Mall for the inauguration.

"This is the culmination of two years of work," said Obama activist Akin Salawu, 34, of Brooklyn, N.Y., who helped the candidate as a community organizer and Web producer. "We got on board when Obama was the little engine who could. He's like a child you've held onto. Now he's going out into the world."

By 4 a.m., lines of riders had already formed in suburban parking lots for the Metro transit system, which opened early and put on extra trains for the expected rush. Many parking lots filled up and had to be closed.

Streets around the Capitol quickly filled with people, and security checkpoints were mobbed. The cold registered at about 20 degrees Fahrenheit at 9 a.m.

Warming tents and other facilities on the Mall were late opening because traffic and crowds delayed staffers from reaching them. Ticket holders approaching the Inaugural site on Capitol Hill awaited security sweeps in a line estimated at thousands.

By 9 a.m. the U.S. Park Police was directing viewers to the grounds of the Washington Monument, 14 blocks away from the Capitol where Obama would be sworn in.

At the Capitol, a plexiglass shield extended about two feet up from the balustrade around the speaker's platform. Near the lectern, were seats reserved for Muhammad Ali, Elie Wiesel and Martin Luther King III. Other groups of seats were saved for past presidents, vice presidents and their spouses — the Clintons, the Gores, the Bushes and the Quayles. Each seat was furnished with a dark blue fleece blanket.

A flea-market atmosphere prevailed on downtown streets, with white tents set up to sell Obama T-shirts and mugs as well as food, bottled water, snacks, scarves and footwarmers. The scent of grilled coiled sausages and steaming Chinese food greeted those who walked toward the parade route, more than six hours before Obama would pass by.

As the first waves of people began moving through security screenings, they scrambled for prime viewing spots along Pennsylvania Avenue — sitting on the curb, staking out plots of grass, or clambering on to cold metal benches.

Christian Alderson of Berryville, Va., went to Memphis, Tenn., in 1968 to support the sanitation workers strike and said he was there when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

"That day was sorrowful," Alderson, 73, said as he stood near the mall. "This is a dream come true for me."

At the opposite end of town, Georgetown University students chanted "Obama!" and "Fired up Ready to Go!" as they walked down M Street toward the Mall.

Suburban subway riders also seemed to be in a jubilant mood, despite the early hour. In Fredericksburg, Va., an hour south of Washington, chants of "Obama! Obama!" rang out at a commuter rail station when the line started moving at 5 a.m. for the first trip into Washington.

D.C. police have projected inaugural crowds between 1 million and 2 million. Planners say attendance could easily top the 1.2 million people who were at Lyndon B. Johnson's 1965 inauguration, the largest crowd the National Park Service has on record. By 7 a.m., some 207,000 people had entered Washington's Metro transit system, transit officials said. Huge lines formed outside subway stations; many parking lots filled up and had to be closed.

The joyous mood was tempered only by delays and by the dashed expectations of revelers eager to get an up-close look at history.

Alice Williams, a 51-year-old teacher of gifted children from Kansas City, Mo., had the coveted purple ticket that would placed her in front of the Capitol, but she got caught in the crowd bottleneck and instead was stuck a half mile away.

"We got blocked off; there was too much traffic and no guidance," she said forlornly. "I've been walking for an hour and a half. All I want to do is see my president sworn in."

The cold was also taking its toll.

Shelton Iddeen, 57, of Greensboro, N.C., arrived at the Mall and 4 a.m. and huddled in front of an ambulance to warm up .

"My hands feel really bad; you can't feel your toes," he said. "I'm more concerned about other people, the elderly and the young. I've seen a lot of people here really suffering."

Others were unfazed.

Faosat Idowu, of Lagos, Nigeria, had tickets for the inauguration but couldn't get through the crowds at five different entrances between the White House and Capitol Hill. She ended up walking in a highway tunnel that normally carries Interstate 395 under the Capitol grounds, closed for this one day to all but pedestrians. She wore a bright red scarf and hat adorned with dozens of green patches bearing Obama's face and the words, "Africans for Obama."

"It's part of the excitement," Idowu said. "I don't mind it at all."

Associated Press Writers Donna Cassata, Gillian Gaynair, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Kevin Freking, Ed Tobias, Ben Evans, Seth Borenstein and H. Josef Hebert contributed to this report.

Obama rides rails to capital, as onlookers cheer

PHILADELPHIA – President-elect Barack Obama, tracing the train route Abraham Lincoln took nearly a century and a half earlier, undertook the final leg of his inaugural journey to the nation's capital Saturday, pledging to reclaim America's spirit but also warning of steep challenges facing the country.

Hundreds of excited people cheered as Obama waved from the back of the train when it rolled slowly through the station in little Claymont, Del., on the way to larger crowds at stops in Wilmington and Baltimore on the route to Washington.

Unfazed by frigid temperatures, scattered onlookers stood waving at crossroads along the way.

"Starting now, let's take up in our own lives the work of perfecting our union," Obama told several hundred people gathered inside a hall at Philadelphia's historic 30th Street train station. "Let's build a government that is responsible to the people and accept our own responsibilities as citizens to hold our government accountable. ... Let's make sure this election is not the end of what we do to change America, but the beginning and the hope for the future."

While talking about the future, Obama reflected on the past, echoing the words of the Declaration of Independence, Lincoln and President John F. Kennedy. He cited the founding fathers who risked everything with no assurance of success in Philadelphia in the summer of 1776:

"They were willing to put all they were and all they had on the line — their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor — for a set of ideals that continue to light the world: That we are equal. That our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness come not from our laws, but from our maker. And that a government of, by, and for the people can endure."

It's a momentous time for the Obamas. And for Michelle Obama, it was also her 45th birthday.

The president-elect's triumphant day — to be heralded by cheering throngs along the 137-mile rail route — was starting in Philadelphia with a sober discussion of the country's future with 41 people he met during his long quest for the White House.

At the outset, he told a crowd gathered in a flag-draped room that the same perseverance and idealism displayed by the nation's founders are needed to tackle the difficulties of today.

"We recognize that such enormous challenges will not be solved quickly," Obama said. "There will be false starts and setbacks, frustrations and disappointments. And we will be called to show patience even as we act with fierce urgency."

He cited the faltering economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — "one that needs to be ended responsibly, one that needs to be waged wisely" — the threat of global warming and U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

"We are here today not simply to pay tribute to our first patriots but to take up the work that they began," he said. "The trials we face are very different now, but severe in their own right. Only a handful of times in our history has a generation been confronted with challenges so vast."

Preparing to board the train, Obama said that "what's required is a new declaration of independence — from ideology and small thinking."

Obama's vintage rail car was tacked onto the back of a 10-car train made up of Amtrak cars filled with hundreds of guests, reporters and staff along for the ride.

As the train pulled out of the station at Philadelphia, the conductor said: "Welcome aboard the 2009 inaugural train to D.C."

Obama tells daughters he ran for president for them, all children

WASHINGTON (AFP) – In an open letter to his young daughters, US president-elect Barack Obama said Thursday that he entered the race for the White House "because of what I want for you and for every child in this nation."

"When I was a young man, I thought life was all about me -- about how I'd make my way in the world, become successful, and get the things I want. But then the two of you came into my world," Obama said in the letter published in Parade magazine, a weekend newspaper color supplement.

"I realized that my own life wouldn't count for much unless I was able to ensure that you had every opportunity for happiness and fulfilment in yours. In the end, girls, that's why I ran for President: because of what I want for you and for every child in this nation," wrote the soon-to-be Dad-in-chief.

Obama's wish-list for children includes challenging and inspirational schools; equal opportunity to go to university, regardless of their family's financial standing; and well-paid jobs with benefits such as health care and a pension plan that will allow them to "retire with dignity."

The 47-year-old father of Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, said he wants to "push the boundaries" of discovery to encourage the development of new technology and inventions that improve lives and protect the environment.

And he spoke of his vision of a United States that has reached "beyond the divides of race and region, gender and religion that keep us from seeing the best in each other."

He would strive to send young Americans to war "only for a very good reason", trying first to settle differences with other nations peacefully.

"These are the things I want for you -- to grow up in a world with no limits on your dreams and no achievements beyond your reach, and to grow into compassionate, committed women who will help build that world," wrote Obama.

"And I want every child to have the same chances to learn and dream and grow and thrive that you girls have. That's why I've taken our family on this great adventure," wrote Obama, who on Tuesday will move into the White House with his two daughters and wife, Michelle.

Search for 'first pooch' narrows to two choices: Obama

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President-elect Barack Obama says he and his family have narrowed their choice of pet hound to one of two breeds, and are ready to start combing animal shelters to find the lucky dog.

"They seem to have narrowed it down to a labradoodle or a Portuguese water hound," Obama told ABC's This Week in an interview broadcast Sunday.

"We're now going to start looking at shelters to see when one of those dogs might come up."

Obama promised daughters Sasha, seven, and Malia,10, a dog as a reward for their forbearance of the rigors of the presidential campaign.

The list of breeds in contention was narrowed by Malia's allergy to dogs, making it necessary that the first family pick a hypoallergenic breed. The president-elect has said his preference would be to adopt a pound dog rather than getting one from a breeder or pet shop.

What kind of dog the Obamas will ultimately choose has drawn enormous public interest, and seems likely to spark a bump in popularity for whatever breed the first family ultimately settles upon.

Obama said picking on just the right breed has been harder than he'd expected.

"We're closing in on it. This has been tougher than finding a commerce secretary," he joked, alluding to the one cabinet post that remains unfilled, after his choice for the position, Bill Richardson, withdrew his nomination.

Every president since Calvin Coolidge, elected in 1923, has had at least one dog in the White House, according to dogsinthenews.com.

History calls on Obama to uncork a great speech

WASHINGTON – The pressure's on for Barack Obama, orator.

History wants something for the ages in his Jan. 20 inaugural speech. Not just pretty words that melt like gumdrops but something that will settle in the nation's soul and be worth making schoolchildren memorize 100 years from now.
Americans want something for the dispiriting times they live in. They have their first extraordinary speaker in decades taking the oath of office. They know how good he's been. Time for great.
How tall is the order?
"The great task of Barack Obama is to be a John F. Kennedy or to be a Ronald Reagan — truly inspire the American people and in a few succinct, memorable lines, lay out for the country your new vision for America," says American University political historian Allan J. Lichtman.
Gulp.
At least that does not call upon Obama to be another Abraham Lincoln, the unsurpassed cosmic communicator whose words and deeds the president-elect often cites, and probably will again from the stage of the Capitol.
Obama can be expected to hit upon all lodestar themes from the canon of inaugural speeches. Some of them are unity, hope, change, continuity, security and God. (Prosperity, another biggie, may have to wait.)
The historic ascension of a black man to the White House begs for eloquent acknowledgment. Students of inaugural speeches expect that in brief. Just seeing Obama take the oath may say more on that subject than his rhetoric could.
One of the memorable characteristics of inaugural addresses is how forgettable most of them are.
Perhaps not since Reagan declared "government is not the solution to our problem, government IS the problem," has a line with staying power come from an inaugural speech. Even that thought was only satisfying to the ideologically like-minded. But it showed the change Reagan wanted for his country.
"The number of really plodding speeches is almost countless," says Leo Ribuffo, history professor at George Washington University. "The ones that stand out: maybe eight-nine if you're a historian, maybe three or four if we just have a vague sense of the past."
Count Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Kennedy, Thomas Jefferson and one or two more as the acknowledged masters.
Jefferson's first inauguration, in 1801, was the first that marked the transition between rival parties.
"We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists," he said, reaching to erase bitterness between parties of the day.
We are not just red states or blue states but the United States, Obama says now. The sentiment is certain to be heard in his speech, if dressed in new words. Can Americans truly rally together behind such a call?
"Isn't it pretty to think so?" Ribuffo muses. "The problem is, all presidents want to bring the country together on their own terms.
"I think Americans understand really that an inauguration is like a graduation or a wedding. There's a kind of rhetoric of great optimism and then afterward, well maybe the graduate doesn't get the greatest job in the world. Maybe the marriage is a little rocky. But today, at least, let's look on the bright side."
Lincoln's second inaugural speech, coming with Civil War victory days away and his assassination the following month, made the transcendent appeal for national reconciliation, "with malice toward none, with charity for all." It was a short speech, loaded with religious touchstones, and perhaps the greatest inaugural address of all.
But his unity was achieved by force of arms, not rhetoric.
Roosevelt embodied hope, change and the possibility of having security and even prosperity once again, speaking in 1933 to a nation in the roughest grips of the Depression.
Obama has spoken lately about how bad things are. He can be expected to address how good things can be again. He already has been invoking FDR, obliquely, in reminding Americans that previous generations have faced down war, depression and "fear itself."
"We're in a sour mood, we're pessimistic," said Stephen J. Wayne, government professor at Georgetown University. "The new president has to try to restore hope and confidence and try to restore the proposition that had been so valid for many years — that the future is going to be better than the present."
FDR railed against the moneychangers in a speech delivered in the midst of a bank panic, with one-quarter of the work force idle. His words were angry and hopeful at once.
He advanced a thought that is foreign to the ears of the modern consumer — that the crisis concerned, "thank God, only material things."
"Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment," he said. "Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts."
The fundamentals are strong, you might say.
Kennedy embodied hope, change, common purpose and of course the passing of the torch to a new generation.
Again, Obama is not waiting for Jan. 20 to draw on the magic of historic moments such as Kennedy's turn on the inaugural stage in 1961.
He has asked Americans to "insist that the first question each of us asks isn't 'What's good for me?' but 'What's good for the country my children will inherit?'"
Expect that thought to be expressed more poetically on Inauguration Day, in the spirit of Kennedy's call: "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."
Presidents and their speechwriters have turned to common rhetorical devices over the centuries to make inaugural speeches effective.
A dose of humility is thought to go a long way, for one. Jefferson may have taken that to an extreme, starting and finishing his first inaugural speech by talking about his shortcomings and begging forgiveness for all the mistakes he was about to make.
Some have used repetition. FDR anchored his second inaugural address on "I see," as in "I see millions of families trying to live on incomes so meager that the pall of family disaster hangs over them day by day."
Richard Nixon repeatedly chose "Let us," as in, "Let us measure what we will do for others by what they will do for themselves."
Teddy Roosevelt used alliteration, declaring "we shall not prove false to the memories of the men of the mighty past."
Reagan evoked sounds. He asked Americans to imagine Lincoln pacing hallways, the crunch of a patriot falling to his knees in the snow of Valley Forge, the pioneer headed west and singing. "It is the American sound," Reagan said, "this most tender music."
In times of war, peace, plenty or economic misery, it must also be stated that America can solve its problems and find a better tomorrow.
"There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America," Bill Clinton said.
As FDR unforgettably put it: "Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
That was his way of saying, "Yes we can."

Obama: $350b bailout needs to help people

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama wants more transparency and strict guidelines for using the second $350 billion of the bailout fund Congress approved last fall to stabilize the nation's financial system.

Obama's economic team has been talking with the Bush administration about having Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson ask Congress as early as this week for access to the $350 billion remaining in the bailout fund. If Congress rejected such a request, a presidential veto could still free up the money, unless Congress overrode the veto.

The Congressional Oversight Panel raised detailed questions last week about how banks are spending the first $350 billion, how the money will combat the rising tide of home foreclosures and Treasury's overall strategy for the rescue. In instance after instance, the panel said, the Treasury Department did not offer adequate responses.

In an interview aired Sunday, Obama declined to say whether he wants President George W. Bush to request the rest of the money, but he said he has asked his economic team to develop a set of principles to ensure more openness about how the money is spent and to focus on using it more to help homeowners and small businesses.

"Let's lay out very specifically some of the things that we are going to do with the next $350 billion of money," Obama said on ABC's "This Week." "And I think that we can regain the confidence of both Congress and the American people that this is not just money that is being given to banks without any strings attached and nobody knows what happens, but rather that it is targeted very specifically at getting credit flowing again to businesses and families."

Among the things under consideration by Obama aides and congressional Democrats are limiting executive pay at institutions that receive the money and forcing such institutions to get rid of any private aircraft they may own or lease.

"I think that when you look at how we have handled the home foreclosure situation and whether we've done enough in terms of helping families on the ground who may have lost their homes because they lost their jobs or because they got sick, we haven't done enough there," Obama said.

In the interview taped Saturday, Obama also conceded it will be difficult to enforce his pledge to ban congressionally earmarked projects from the nearly $800 billion economic stimulus plan he's negotiating with Congress.

"In a package of this magnitude, will there end up being certain projects that potentially don't meet that criteria of helping on health care, energy or education? Certainly," he said.

But Obama said inaction carries too great a risk. "We can't afford three, four, five, six more months where we're losing half a million jobs per month. And the estimates are that if we don't do anything, we could see 4 million jobs lost this year."

Obama, who has been receiving daily national security briefings since his election in November, also acknowledged that his campaign pledge to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay will be more of a challenge than he anticipated. Many of those held at the military site are suspected terrorists or potential witnesses in cases against them.

"It is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize — and we are going to get it done — but part of the challenge that you have is that you have a bunch of folks that have been detained, many of whom who may be very dangerous who have not been put on trial or have not gone through some adjudication," he said.

The president-elect said that while some evidence against terrorism suspects may be tainted by the tactics used to obtain it, that doesn't change the fact they are "people who are intent on blowing us up."

Speaking in general terms, Obama said the country had made progress in becoming safer since the Sept. 11 attacks, but dangers persist. He said national security remains a concern, but added: "We know exactly what they're planning, where they're positioned. If you have a small group of people in today's world with today's technology who are intent on doing harm and are willing to die, that is something that's always going to be a challenge."

In other matters:

• Obama predicted his choice for attorney general, Eric Holder, would pass Senate confirmation despite worries about his ties to President Bill Clinton's controversial pardon of Marc Rich.
• Obama and wife Michelle are still visiting Washington-area churches looking for a new place to worship. The Obamas resigned from Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ after sermons from the Rev. Jeremiah Wright caused an uproar for blaming the United States for the Sept. 11 attacks.
• The Obamas are deciding between a labradoodle or a Portuguese water hound puppy, in the search for an appropriate pet for their daughters, ages 7 and 10. Obama said they're ready to start visiting shelter

Obama: Financial bailout program needs overhaul

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President-elect Barack Obama urged a revamping of the government's $700 billion financial bailout, saying in an interview broadcast on Sunday it had to increase the flow of credit to families and businesses.
"I, like many, are disappointed with how the whole TARP process has unfolded," Obama said, referring to the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
"There hasn't been enough oversight," Obama said in an interview on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." "We found out this week in a report that we are not tracking where this money is going."
Stephanopoulos pressed Obama on whether he wanted U.S. President George W. Bush to request permission from Congress to use the second half of the bailout funds.
Obama, who takes over from Bush on January 20, did not answer directly but said he wanted to see the program changed to do more to help families stave off foreclosures and to increase the flow of credit for small businesses.
"What I've done is asked my team to come together, come up with a set of principles around how we are going to maintain transparency, what are we going to do in terms of housing, how are we going to target small businesses that are under an enormous business crunch?" Obama said.
The White House said on Friday that Bush administration officials were in discussions with the Obama team on the possibility of Bush making a request for the second $350 billion of the bailout funds.
Both the White House and an Obama transition official said no final decision had been made but The Washington Post said a request could come as early as this weekend.
The aim would be to ensure that the funds were in place on January 20, when Obama takes office.
The program, which has used mainly to bail out financial firms, is unpopular on Capitol Hill. Some of the funds also were used to help distressed U.S. automakers.

Obama said his team plans to "lay out very specifically some of the things that we are going to do with the next $350 billion of money."
"And I think that we can gain -- regain the confidence of both Congress and the American people that this is not just money that is being given to banks without any strings attached," Obama said.

Obama stimulus plan boosts business tax refunds

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama's proposed stimulus package would provide businesses with billions of dollars in refunds on taxes they paid several years ago.

The refunds are popular among business groups and could increase pressure on Republicans to support Obama's massive stimulus package, even though most of them are wary of government spending increases that could send its total cost to $800 billion or more.

"This gives companies an infusion of cash just when they need it," Dorothy Coleman of the National Association of Manufacturers said of the proposed refunds.

Obama's proposal to stimulate the economy includes tax cuts of up to $300 billion, including more than $100 billion for businesses.

The refund provision would enable some companies posting losses last year to get refunds for taxes paid as far back as five years earlier. The businesses could refile their old tax returns, using the losses suffered last year to offset profits made when times were good.

Under current law, businesses can use losses to offset profits the two previous years.

Obama's team has yet to provide estimates on what the refunds could total. When Congress considered the same idea last year, carrying back losses to offset profits in the previous five years would have provided businesses an estimated $25.5 billion in refunds.

With business losses mounting in 2008 because of the recession, the price tag on Obama's plan would probably be much higher, said Bruce Wein, who heads the U.S. tax practice for the law firm DLA Piper.

"I think it's creative, I think it's bold," Wein said. "It's going to get a lot of backing from Republicans for the obvious reasons."

Obama's tax package also targets individuals, providing a $500 tax cut for most workers and $1,000 for couples, at a cost of about $140 billion to $150 billion over two years. The individual tax cuts may be awarded through withholding less from worker paychecks, effectively making them about $10 larger each week.

Another provision brought to the negotiations by the Obama team would award companies that hire new workers a one-year tax credit at a total cost of $40 billion to $50 billion over two years. Businesses also would get additional incentives to invest in new equipment.

Obama raises $27 million for inaugural

WASHINGTON – Despite the economic hard times, money keeps pouring in for President-elect Barack Obama's inaugural festivities.

The inaugural committee has raised at least $27 million. Most of that has come in over the past three weeks.

Roughly 2,000 donors are helping to finance the Jan. 20 inaugural celebration. At least 378 gave the maximum $50,000. They include actors Halle Berry and Samuel L. Jackson, Hollywood producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, director Steven Spielberg and entertainer Barbra Streisand.

The inaugural committee Web site identifies donors who gave $200 or more.