CHICAGO - With the world suddenly hanging on his every word, Barack Obama answered questions yesterday for the first time as president-elect, speaking cautiously about a skittish economy and joking that his family's discussion of a new puppy had become "a major issue."
But he wasn't careful enough on another subject, making an ill-considered comment about seances and former first lady Nancy Reagan, for which he later issued a personal apology.
Meeting with reporters, Obama sought to reassure the nation and world that the financial crisis has his full attention, while delicately trying to bridge the transition from the current presidency to his own.
"Oh, wow," Obama said, as he walked into a basement ballroom in the Hilton Chicago, expressing surprise at the tradition of reporters standing when a president or president-elect walks into a room.
Obama urged the lame-duck session of Congress to swiftly pass an economic stimulus package. If that does not happen before he takes office, he said it would be a top priority after moving into the White House.
But the Illinois Democrat also tried to make the case that he did not plan to be confrontational with the current administration and a president who was so frequently the target of his attacks on the campaign trail.
"The United States has only one government and one president at a time," he said. "And until Jan. 20th of next year, that government is the current administration."
White House visit
Obama said he was looking forward to a trip Monday to visit President Bush at the White House and a "substantive discussion."
"I'm going to go in there with a spirit of bipartisanship and a sense that both the president and various leaders of Congress all recognize the severity of the situation right now and want to get stuff done," he said.
Obama was flanked by Sen. Joe Biden, the soon-to-be vice president, and Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago congressman who will be the White House chief of staff. He also brought with him a football team's worth of economic advisers, a group he had met with earlier.
On a day when the stock market headed higher but a new report showed that the economy lost 240,000 jobs in October, Obama stressed that the road ahead for him and the nation would not be easy.
"I do not underestimate the enormity of the task that lies ahead," he said. "Some of the choices that we make are going to be difficult."
