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Saturday, November 22, 2008
Obama tries to calm the fear…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
President-elect Barack Obama is still almost two months from taking office, but in the meantime he’s stepping in to do what he can to build confidence and give people hope that help is coming.
Here’s the New York Times version:
CHICAGO — President-elect Barack Obama said Saturday that he had started work on a sustained, two-year economic stimulus plan designed to create or save 2.5 million jobs, funnel money toward public works programs to repair the country’s failing infrastructure and invest in alternative energy programs.
Mr. Obama’s plan, which he announced in the Democratic radio address, is broader than the pledges he offered while campaigning for president. He said the deepening financial outlook demanded more robust action, so he directed his economic team to devise “a plan big enough to meet the challenges we face that I intend to sign soon after taking office.”
Mr. Obama said he hoped to have the plan completed, approved by Congress and ready for his signature shortly after he takes office in January.
“The news this week has only reinforced the fact that we are facing an economic crisis of historic proportions,” Mr. Obama said. “We now risk falling into a deflationary spiral that could increase our massive debt even further.”
If you face a big problem, you do big things to fix it. But it’s also true that there are no guarantees.
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A Marine general may be national security adviser
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The selection of Hillary Clinton as secretary of state is getting all the headlines, for obvious reasons. But the most intriguing and revealing of the likely nominations would be that of Gen. Jim Jones, the retired four-star general and former Marine commandant, as national security adviser.
Barack Obama, the supposed wild-eyed Marxist from Illinois, is already building a seriously mainstream national security/foreign policy apparatus, stocked with experienced people with impeccable credentials. The selection of Jones, a close friend of John McCain, would cement that impression. The general is revered among his fellow Marines and is also highly regarded in Washington and elsewhere for his wisdom and independence.
Some on the left may see such selections as a betrayal of sorts, but it is entirely consistent with everything Barack Obama said during the campaign. And as Obama starts to do the controversial but sensible things he needs to do, such as withdrawing from Iraq to focus on Afghanistan and restoring fiscal sanity to the Pentagon budget, he’ll have the people within his administration to both point out the landmines and provide him political cover.
