The Note: Pull Me Back In
The Note: Transition period tests Obama -- and challenges him to lead early.
Nov. 11, 2008— -- President-elect Barack Obama might have wanted some relaxation time -- or at least some thinking time before that White House he toured Monday becomes his.
But politics is inviting Obama in at every turn: world leaders reaching out; advocacy groups growing restless (already); a Senate run-off where his pull will be tested; a Democrat-turned-independent-turned-McCain-endorser whose future is being debated on the Hill; and, most pressingly, a series of financial matters that can't wait for Jan. 20 to be resolved.
(And Gov. Sarah Palin is inviting in politics at every turn -- what, is she running for something?)
There will be many Barack Obamas, surely, over the course of his presidency -- the one of the first 100 days, the economic healer, the wartime leader, the manager, the speaker, the relationship-builder, the one who responds to unforeseen crises, and the one who (soon enough) gears up for reelection.
All of them could be defined in part by the pre-presidential Obama we're seeing now. Just a week past Election Day, Obama is being asked to fill leadership voids all over Washington, and as he responds -- tentatively, for now -- he knows that he's setting the tone for when it counts.
Behind the pageantry, the makings of a presidential-level standoff: "President-elect Barack Obama yesterday urged President Bush to support immediate aid for struggling automakers and back a new stimulus package, even as congressional Democrats began drafting legislation to give the Detroit automakers quick access to $25 billion by adding them to the Treasury Department's $700 billion economic rescue program," Lori Montgomery and Michael D. Shear write in The Washington Post.
"Bush, speaking privately to Obama during their first Oval Office meeting, repeated his administration's stand that he might support quick action on those bills if Democratic leaders drop their opposition to a Colombia trade agreement that Bush supports," they report. "The discussions raised the stakes for a lame-duck session of Congress that could begin next week and came as fears about General Motors' financial condition yesterday pushed the company's stock price to its lowest level in about 60 years."
"A week after Mr. Obama's election, and more than two months before he takes office, the steadily weakening economy and the prospect of many more job losses are testing his effort to remain aloof from the nation's business on the argument that 'we only have one president at a time,' " Jackie Calmes writes in The New York Times.
"As the auto industry reels, rarely has an issue so quickly illustrated the differences from one White House occupant to the next," she writes. "How Mr. Obama responds to the industry's dire straits will indicate how much government intervention in the private sector he is willing to tolerate. It will also offer hints of how he will approach his job under pressure, testing the limits of his conciliation toward the opposition party and his willingness to stand up to the interest groups in his own."
"Mr. Obama's focus on the auto industry came as fellow Democrats on Capitol Hill started moving on their own to help Detroit gain access to federal rescue funds allocated for the financial sector," Jonathan Weisman and John D. McKinnon report in The Wall Street Journal. "Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan said Monday that he is drafting legislation, aimed for quick passage, that would free up money from the $700 billion Wall Street rescue for Detroit auto makers careening toward seeking bankruptcy protection."
But: "At the same time, Obama signaled he was in no rush to assume responsibility for dealing with the financial crisis," per Bloomberg's Hans Nichols and Kim Chipman.
Guess away as to who was on the other end: "I am not going to be spending too much time in Washington over the next several weeks," Obama was overheard saying on the phone aboard his plane Monday. "I don't want us to go lurching so far in one direction," he said at another point. "If we come up with some good solid sensible options … " he said a little later.
ABC's Jake Tapper, on "Good Morning America" Tuesday: "Of course, the context of the conversation is not known, but aide Robert Gibbs reminded the president-elect he might want to keep his phone call a little more private."
Yes, Obama spoke with Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., on Monday -- but not about the Secretary of State's job, per Lugar's office.
Your daily glimpse of the president-elect: Obama on Tuesday joins Tammy Duckworth in laying a Veterans Day wreath in Chicago.
Transition co-chair John Podesta updates reporters on the latest at a 2 pm briefing in Washington. And the transition press team is in place: Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer; Chief Spokesperson Stephanie Cutter; and spokespersons Tommy Vietor, Jen Psaki, and Nick Shapiro.
Expectations, anyone? "Americans have soaring hopes for the incoming Obama administration and an even higher opinion of the Democrat they just elected president, a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows," Jill Lawrence writes for USA Today. "Nearly seven in 10 adults, or 68%, said they have a favorable opinion of President-elect Barack Obama. Almost that many -- 65% -- said they think the country will be better off four years from now."
Pressure to move, on healthcare: "Four leading advocacy groups representing business, labor and retirees are starting a campaign today to press Barack Obama to enact comprehensive healthcare reform, upping the pressure on the president-elect to tackle the issue quickly after he takes office," Noam M. Levey reports in the Los Angeles Times. "In a letter to Obama, the Business Roundtable, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, AARP and the Service Employees International Union urge that a healthcare overhaul be a priority in the administration's first 100 days. The groups plan to spend nearly $1 million to publicize their cause in newspaper and television advertising in coming weeks."
Why ever would they be anxious? "President-elect Barack Obama over the weekend scrubbed his transition Web site, deleting most of what had been a massive agenda for his first term that appears on his campaign's site," Stephen Dinan reports in the Washington Times. "Gone from Change.gov are the promises on how an Obama administration would handle 25 agenda items -- from Iraq and immigration to taxes and urban policy -- which the campaign first laid out on the Web site www.BarackObama.com."
(Thank you, Grover: "Grover Norquist, president of conservative activist group Americans for Tax Reform, blasted Mr. Obama for deleting the agenda. 'This is the opposite of transparency,' he said. His organization posted to its Web site, www.atr.org, a scanned copy of a printout of the 'Economy' section of Mr. Obama's agenda.")
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