Relaxed Obama Jokes About Nancy Reagan

Nov. 7, 2008— -- After months of campaigning with discipline, staying on message and sticking to script, an apparently relaxed President-elect Barack Obama ad-libbed during his first news conference today and revealed a penchant for goofy asides.

Obama was precise and diplomatic while discussing delicate subjects such as economic policy and Iran, but was somewhat indelicate at times, as well.

When asked if he had consulted former presidents for advice, Obama said he has spoken with Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush.

"I have spoken to all of them," he said, and, after a short pause, added, "that are living ... I didn't want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about, you know, doing any seances."

Obama was joking about revelations that Nancy Reagan had consulted a Ouija board and an astrologer while advising her husband, President Ronald Reagan.

He characterized the pending selection of a First Dog for his two daughters as "a major issue." In listing the necessary qualifications, Obama said the dog would have to be hypo-allergenic because daughter Malia, 10, is allergic to dogs, and he added that the family wants to get a dog from a shelter.

Whether they can get a hypo-allergenic dog from a shelter is questionable, he said, "because a lot of shelter dogs are mutts, like me."

Obama's father was a black man from Kenya and his mother was a white woman from Kansas, but "mutt" would have likely been fighting words during the presidential campaign.

Obama, who had decreasing direct interaction with the media during the 21 months of the presidential campaign, was addressing them by their first names today. There was Jeff, Jake, Chip and Candy. He sought out a Chicago reporter among the national press corps, saying, "Give a local hometown guy a little bit of time."

Later, he turned solicitous.

"Lynn Sweet. What happened to your arm, Lynn?" he asked the Chicago Sun-Times reporter whose arm was in a sling. "Oh, no," Obama said when Sweet told him that she had fellen and cracked her shoulder while hurrying to his election night acceptance speech.

Obama Ends News Conference With Breezy "Bonjour"

On substantive issues, he provided little information. When asked how soon he would name secretaries of treasury or state, Obama said, "When we have an announcement about Cabinet appointments, we will make it."

Obama also was asked whether his first intelligence briefing made him rethink any of the positions he took during the campaign.

"I'm going to skip that," Obama replied.

Prodded on taxes, he repeated a section of his stump speech that he has recited innumerable times.

After about 10 questions, Obama ended with "All right? Thank you very much."

As he strolled off, his response to a French reporter who tried to ask him one final question was a breezy, "Bonjour."