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Problems already as Obama set to sign in
Source: Agencies |
January 8, 2009, Thursday
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Print Edition
WITH his inauguration less than two weeks away, Barack Obama faced distractions over his choice of an intelligence team, his Senate replacement and evidence Congress can't act as quickly as hoped on a massive economic stimulus package.
In his first week in Washington, Obama is focusing on securing bipartisan support for a sweeping and costly economic plan aimed at pulling the United States out of recession.
To a public wary of government spending, Obama is offering a salve with his massive economic stimulus package: the promise of long-term fiscal discipline.
On Tuesday, Obama vowed to "bring a long-overdue sense of responsibility and accountability to Washington" and called the need for budget reform "an absolute necessity."
Obama has been meeting congressional leaders to try to get the stimulus package legislation ready for his signature shortly after his swearing in but now believes that may be weeks away.
Yesterday, he was expected to announce his selection of a chief performance officer, a White House official who will work with federal agencies to set performance standards and hold agency managers accountable for progress.
This is likely to reassure Republican and Democratic fiscal conservatives who are worried about the near US$1 trillion price tag for a stimulus package.
Also yesterday, Obama was to join three former presidents, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter, for a lunch at the White House hosted by President George W. Bush. It will be the first time all the living presidents have gathered at the White House since 1981.
Compounding that distraction was the ugly bit of political theater that unfolded in Congress on Tuesday when the Senate barred Roland Burris from taking Obama's vacated Illinois Senate seat. Burris was appointed by the state's embattled governor, Rod Blagojevich, who stands accused of trying to sell the position to the highest bidder.
Burris said he was considering a federal lawsuit to force Senate Democrats to seat him.
Meanwhile, Obama has defended his reported pick to head the Central Intelligence Agency, Leon Panetta, as "one of the finest public servants that we've had." Some members of Congress felt the former chief of staff in the Clinton administration was too inexperienced.
In his first week in Washington, Obama is focusing on securing bipartisan support for a sweeping and costly economic plan aimed at pulling the United States out of recession.
To a public wary of government spending, Obama is offering a salve with his massive economic stimulus package: the promise of long-term fiscal discipline.
On Tuesday, Obama vowed to "bring a long-overdue sense of responsibility and accountability to Washington" and called the need for budget reform "an absolute necessity."
Obama has been meeting congressional leaders to try to get the stimulus package legislation ready for his signature shortly after his swearing in but now believes that may be weeks away.
Yesterday, he was expected to announce his selection of a chief performance officer, a White House official who will work with federal agencies to set performance standards and hold agency managers accountable for progress.
This is likely to reassure Republican and Democratic fiscal conservatives who are worried about the near US$1 trillion price tag for a stimulus package.
Also yesterday, Obama was to join three former presidents, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter, for a lunch at the White House hosted by President George W. Bush. It will be the first time all the living presidents have gathered at the White House since 1981.
Compounding that distraction was the ugly bit of political theater that unfolded in Congress on Tuesday when the Senate barred Roland Burris from taking Obama's vacated Illinois Senate seat. Burris was appointed by the state's embattled governor, Rod Blagojevich, who stands accused of trying to sell the position to the highest bidder.
Burris said he was considering a federal lawsuit to force Senate Democrats to seat him.
Meanwhile, Obama has defended his reported pick to head the Central Intelligence Agency, Leon Panetta, as "one of the finest public servants that we've had." Some members of Congress felt the former chief of staff in the Clinton administration was too inexperienced.
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