Obama's First Press Conference: Move Swiftly on Economy

President-Elect Obama held his first press meeting today since being elected the nation's 44^th president. He made his way to the microphone accompanied by his transition team entourage, with Vice President-Elect Joe Biden and newly appointed White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel to his left and right. There were three overriding themes that President-Elect Obama kept bringing the focus back to. First was the major issue of the economy, next was the spirit of bipartisanship and lastly that he was not yet president.

With the sobering news today of October's report of 240,000 lost jobs and the auto industry crying out for help, Mr. Obama laid out four quick points of what he and his transition team will be working on now and first thing upon entering 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. A brief summary of his points

1. A Rescue Plan for the Middle Class:

- Further extension of unemployment benefits

- A fiscal stimulus package. (President Elect Obama says that he wants that to happen sooner rather than later and that if the current administration does not get it done before January, then it would be first on this list.

1. Helping out Businesses

- The economic problem is global and therefore needs a global response

- Retooling of auto industry and creating fuel efficient cars

1. Review implementation of financial programs currently in place to make sure they are not rewarding financial firms while the people are suffering.

1. Laying out policies to grow the middle class and economy

Every one seemed very anxious for Obama to get started in his role so a phrase that was repeated more than once was "we are one government and can only have one president at a time." He used this phrase to address questions related to what he intended to do about certain surfacing issues right now. He also made it a point to let people know that while he intended to move quickly, he was not going to be reckless. Finally President-Elect Obama kept reiterating his hope for bipartisanship. He spoke about how he did not anticipate problems with the transition, and how even though he "understood the enormity of the tasks" and that he figured that there may be some early disagreement not only between parties but within them that he expected and hope that for the most part that the spirit of bipartisanship would reign. He stated that America is resilient if we put aside politics and partisanship.

The first press conference was relaxed. He make a few jokes and even shouted out the hometown Chicago reporter John McCormick to make sure that he was able to get a question in.