SanLuisObispo.com: Election 2008

Obama: Congress must act boldly and now on economy

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:44 PST

By By DAVID ESPO and JENNIFER LOVEN -- President-elect Barack Obama implored Congress on Thursday to "act boldly and act now" to fix an economy growing perilously weaker. Leading lawmakers set an informal goal of mid-February for enacting tax cuts and government spending that could cost as much as $1 trillion.

Democrats complained openly about the incoming administration's proposed tax cuts and Republicans warned against excessive new spending, both parties letting Obama know they intend to place their own stamp on the economic recovery effort.

A call for a $3,000 tax break for job creation drew particular criticism in a private meeting, and numerous lawmakers said Obama had not ticketed enough of his tax proposal for energy projects.

Former Pentagon chief predicts Iran crisis soon

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:19 PST

By By ROBERT BURNS -- William Perry, who headed the Pentagon during a 1994 nuclear standoff with North Korea, predicted on Thursday that President-elect Barack Obama will soon face a nuclear crisis with Iran.

Iran is "moving inexorably toward becoming a nuclear power," with ominous implications for the Middle East, Perry said.

"It seems clear that Israel will not sit by idle while Iran takes the final steps toward becoming a nuclear power," Perry told a conference on foreign policy challenges facing the incoming Obama administration. The former Clinton administration defense secretary held out hope that more vigorous U.S. and international diplomacy could reverse North Korea's nuclear weapons program. But he was less confident about stopping Iran's ambitions.

Obama wants to cut energy use in federal buildings

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:08 PST

By By H. JOSEF HEBERT -- President-elect Barack Obama wants to use his economic aid plan to cut energy use in federal buildings, a long-sought goal that has achieved mixed success.

"If we do that effectively, then over the long term we are going to save billions of dollars in energy costs for the federal government and for taxpayers," Obama said at a news conference. A new White House official, with the title "performance officer" will help keep track of the effort.

The idea of reducing energy consumption goes back to the energy crisis of the 1970s. It lost momentum when energy prices fell, but has regained interest in Congress and at the White House. Over the past decade new legislation and several presidential orders set ambitious goals.

Obama bids Midwest goodbye, lands in Washington

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 20:52 PST

By By PHILIP ELLIOTT -- President-elect Barack Obama rejoined his family in Washington on Sunday evening after bidding a poignant farewell to his Chicago home as he begins final preparations for his Jan. 20 inauguration.

"I've got to tell you, I choked up a little bit leaving my house today," Obama told reporters aboard a government 757 plane typically used by vice presidents and first ladies. It was his first trip on a government aircraft since winning election Nov. 4.

Obama said pictures of his daughter, 10-year-old Malia, and her friends triggered the emotion as he left his Hyde Park home in Chicago.

Obama, Richardson statements on withdrawal

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 02:17 PST

Statements from President-elect Barack Obama and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson that were released Sunday by Obama's transition office on Richardson's decision to withdraw as Obama's nominee to be commerce secretary:

Obama:

"It is with deep regret that I accept Gov. Bill Richardson's decision to withdraw his name for nomination as the next secretary of commerce. Gov. Richardson is an outstanding public servant and would have brought to the job of commerce secretary and our economic team great insights accumulated through an extraordinary career in federal and state office. It is a measure of his willingness to put the nation first that he has removed himself as a candidate for the Cabinet in order to avoid any delay in filling this important economic post at this critical time. Although we must move quickly to fill the void left by Gov. Richardson's decision, I look forward to his future service to our country and in my administration."

Richardson withdrawal leaves gap in Cabinet picks

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 04:22 PST

By By NEDRA PICKLER -- The Cabinet that President-elect Barack Obama picked on a fast track has an unexpected opening, with New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Obama's choice for commerce secretary, withdrawing under pressure of a federal investigation into how his political donors landed a lucrative transportation contract.

Richardson insisted he would be cleared in a grand jury probe. But he and Obama said the investigation would have likely disrupted a timely nomination to a top economic post.

"I have concluded that the ongoing investigation also would have forced an untenable delay in the confirmation process," Richardson said in a statement. "Given the gravity of the economic situation the nation is facing, I could not in good conscience ask the president-elect and his administration to delay for one day the important work that needs to be done."

Good luck getting around D.C. on Inauguration Day

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 07:57 PST

By By NAFEESA SYEED -- On a typical weekday, hundreds of thousands of people commute to the nation's capital, snarling roads and packing subway trains and buses during peak hours.

Imagine multiplying that several times for Barack Obama's inauguration Jan. 20.

"I don't want in any way to discourage anyone," said the District of Columbia's city administrator, Dan Tangherlini. "I just don't want them to come and be completely shocked by what they find."

Activists urge Obama to rethink US role in Mideast

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:10 PST

By By PHILIP ELLIOTT -- A handful of pro-Palestinian activists protested outside President-elect Barack Obama's vacation home on Tuesday and urged a new approach to the Middle East. Obama did not acknowledge them.

Eight activists marched with signs to the edge of the property's security perimeter, telling reporters that they want the incoming administration to take a fresh look at the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian territories, especially given the current fighting in the Gaza Strip. They also said Obama needs to take a more active role in the conflict, even though he doesn't take office until Jan. 20.

"We feel there's a great need for change. We need to stop giving Israel a blank check to do what it's doing," said Margaret Brown, a 66-year-old Honolulu resident who held a handmade sign that read "Yes we can change U.S. policy toward Israel and Palestine."

Obama makes third trip to golf course in Hawaii

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 21:14 PST

By By PHILIP ELLIOTT -- Staying out of the public eye during an extended vacation doesn't mean staying away from the golf course for President-elect Barack Obama.

Into the second week of a getaway in his native Hawaii, Obama and a group including friends and an aide on Monday visited a private golf club near his $9 million rented, beach-front vacation home.

Obama drew applause and hollers when he walked up to the 18th green. Obama motioned for them to be quiet while others in his party finished their round, putting a finger to his lips.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton? Barack Obama reportedly considering former Democratic rival

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:47 PST

By Associated Press -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is among the candidates that President-elect Barack Obama is considering for secretary of state, according to two Democratic officials in close contact with the Obama transition team.

Clinton, the former first lady who pushed Obama hard for the Democratic presidential nomination, was rumored to be a contender for the job last week, but the talk died down as party activists questioned whether she was best-suited to be the nation's top diplomat in an Obama administration.

The talk resumed in Washington and elsewhere Thursday, a day after Obama named several former aides to President Bill Clinton to help run his transition effort.

DAUNTING CHALLENGES AWAIT OBAMA ADMINISTRATION

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 09:00 PST

By The Boston Globe (NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE) -- CHICAGO — Winning might have been the easy part.

For all the euphoria that filled this city and much of the nation when Senator Barack Obama won his historic victory on Tuesday, the president-elect now turns to confront a sobering array of challenges as daunting as any incoming leader has faced in decades.

”We have a bad economy, we have a huge debt, we’ve got an unpopular war,” said James A. Thurber, director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University. ”He’s inheriting all that.”

Barack Obama becomes president

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:15 PST

By Associated Press -- "My presence on this stage is pretty unlikely,” Barack Obama began.

“I stand here knowing that my story is part of the larger American story ... and that, in no other country on earth, is my story even possible.”

It was the speech that launched him. Obama was an Illinois assembly member seeking his first term in the U.S. Senate, given a shot at the national stage when John Kerry asked him to deliver the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

Barack Obama wins presidential election

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:29 PST

By Eli Saslow -- CHICAGO — Barack Obama left his Hyde Park home late Tuesday night and arrived at Grant Park just before 11 p.m. Central time, enveloped in euphoria. Friends who surrounded him near the stage choked back tears. Campaign staffers studied the latest voting totals and gushed about “a blowout.” Supporters descended on Chicago, filled the city’s biggest park and spilled through downtown, chanting and waving miniature American flags in celebration.

Only Obama, the reason for so much pandemonium, remained characteristically serene. He walked onto a blue stage with his wife and two daughters, stepped to a lectern flanked by 25 American flags and protective glass, and allowed himself a moment to gaze out at the final overwhelming crowd of his campaign. Then, after thanking his family and his staff, he stared at his jubilant audience and struck a somber tone. “I know you didn’t do this just to win an election, and I know you didn’t do it for me,” Obama said. “You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime.”

Through the highs and lows of his unlikely rise to the presidency, Obama has maintained a steady equilibrium. It is the quality that helped him become the 44th president of the United States. And it is the quality, friends said, that kept him from reveling in it with carefree abandon. Instead of pausing Tuesday to rejoice with those around him, Obama generally treated Election Day like any other. Breakfast with his wife and daughters. A business trip to Indiana. A basketball game with friends at a gym on Chicago’s West Side. A quiet evening watching television at his home in the Hyde Park neighborhood, shuttered from the chaos.

Obama vows to be president for all

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:52 PST

By Associated Press -- CHICAGO — A triumphant Barack Obama vowed to be a president for all America, even those who voted against him, and asked for patience to address the nation’s problems of war and finance that he called the greatest challenges of a lifetime.

The first black president-elect cast his election as a defining moment in the country’s 232-year history and a rebuke to cynicism, fear and doubt.

“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer,” he said in his first public words after winning the election.

Text of John McCain's speech

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 21:58 PST

Text of Sen. John McCain's concession speech, as delivered.

Thank you. Thank you, my friends. Thank you for coming here on this beautiful Arizona evening.

(APPLAUSE)

Text of Barack Obama's acceptance speech

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 21:36 PST

Remarks of President-Elect Barack Obama, as prepared for delivery.

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.

Barack Obama beats John McCain, first black to gain presidency

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:04 PST

By Associated Press -- WASHINGTON — Barack Obama was elected the nation’s first black president Tuesday night in a historic triumph that overcame racial barriers as old as America itself.

The 47-year-old Democratic senator from Illinois sealed his victory by defeating Republican Sen. John McCain in a string of wins in hardfought battleground states — Ohio, Florida, Virginia and Iowa.

A huge crowd thronged Grant Park in Chicago to cheer his improbable triumph and await his first public speech as president-elect.