‘Help Is On The Way,’ as Obama Announces Economic Recovery Board

At his third press conference in as many days, President-elect Barack Obama introduced his "Economic Recovery Advisory Board," with former Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker as chairman and University of Chicago economist Austan Goolsbee as staff director, assuring the American people that despite "an economic crisis of historic proportions," "help is on the way".

"I was elected with the charge of getting this economy back in shape but also making sure that it’s working on behalf of middle-class families," Obama said at the Chicago Hilton press conference. "In order to do that, I’ve tried to bring together the best economic minds, people who don’t always agree with each other but all share a commitment to making sure that we’re growing the pie and that equal opportunity is a reality in our economy, that the American dream remains alive. And so what I intend to do over the next two months is to forge that team, make sure that it has concrete plans for us to put this economy back on track, and we are going to implement starting day one when I come into office."

Obama’s board, modeled on President Eisenhower’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board established during the Cold War, will give him advice outside the usual Washington bureaucratic channels because "the reality is, is that sometimes policy-making in Washington can become a little bit ingrown, a little too insular."

"He pulls no punches," Obama said of the 81-year old Volcker. "He seems to be fairly opinionated."

As for the much younger Goolsbee, Obama called him "one of the economic thinkers who’s most shaped my own thinking on economic matters."

However, some critics have claimed that Obama’s "change" mantra rings hollow with an economic team that includes Clinton administration veterans such as Treasury Secretary pick Tim Geithner and National Economic Council director Larry Summers, along with numerous other likely appointees such as Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, among others.

"It would be surprising if I selected a Treasury Secretary who had no connection with the last Democratic administration, because that would mean that the person had no experience in Washington whatsoever," Obama responded.

"What we are going to do is combine experience with fresh thinking," he then stated. "But understand where the vision for change comes from, first and foremost. It comes from me. That’s my job, is to provide a vision in terms of where we are going, and to make sure, then, that my team is implementing."

"What I don’t want to do is to somehow suggest that because you served in the last Democratic administration, that you’re somehow barred from serving again," he added. "Because we need people who are going to be able to hit the ground running."

Obama’s public emphasis on the economy may be helping the markets already, with stocks streaking upward since Geithner’s name leaked to the press last Friday. The Illinois lawmaker said his week of tripleheader newsers stems from a "frustration with the incapacity of Washington to take bold, clear, decisive steps to deal with our economic problems."

The back-to-back-to-back press conferences have given the President-elect the platform to preach optimism to the American people.

"We continue to have the best workers in the world, we continue to have the most innovation in the world, we continue to be in possession of extraordinary resources, that if we harness properly will get this economy moving over the next couple of years, but also over the next two decades or three decades," he said. "So people should — should understand that help is on the way."

So with the holiday shopping season here, Obama urged Americans not to "pull back", something he cautioned could cause "a downward spiral."

"I think it is important for the American people, though, to have confidence that we’ve gone through recessions before, we’ve gone through difficult times before, that my administration intends to get this economy back on track, that we are going to create 2.5 million jobs over the next two years, that our future is bright if we make good decisions. And what we don’t want to do is get caught up in a spiral where people pull back from the economy, businesses then pull back, jobs are reduced and we get into a downward spiral."

To keep the economy from spiraling downward, the Federal Reserve Tuesday announced an $800 billion loan program, a move Obama applauded today.

"What I’ve said is that we have to do whatever is required in order to make sure that our financial system stays, stays effective in being able to get credit to the markets," Obama reiterated. "And it is important to make sure that the federal government, whether it’s the Fed or the Treasury or any of the other agencies that have been given this authority, use it in a forceful fashion. The, the latest attempts by the Treasury to make sure that we have a housing market in which credit is flowing and that is looking at other areas of consumer credit, like student loans or car loans, I think that is a positive sign."

But with the government now having already pledged or spent $5 trillion to jumpstart the economy, Obama offered no specifics on how he intended to reduce the growing amount of federal debt.

"I think I would hardly be expected to provide you a detailed list now," he said when asked about future budget cuts.

After fielding three questions from reporters, Obama left to go visit a Chicago food bank, ahead of spending Thanksgiving with family members at his Hyde Park house and doing some Black Friday shopping. After all, Obama’s daughters Malia and Sasha have already submitted their Christmas wish-lists. And for anyone wishing for the "ideal" Thanskgiving turkey, Obama said, Volcker and Goolsbee have "special" recipes. As for their recipes to fix the flailing economy, stay tuned…

– Jake Tapper, Andy Fies & Matt Jaffe