President-elect Obama calculates next moves to the White House
By: Sierra Henderson
Issue date: 12/1/08 Section: Nation/World
|
Facing some of the biggest challenges this country has seen since the Great Depression, Obama must cope with mounting pressures to quickly alleviate the country's woes.
This includes repairing a troubled economy and changing course in simultaneous wars. Yet even under these intense demands, Obama has declined to announce any major strategic actions to be implemented during the first days of his presidency.
"The most obvious issue Obama needs to address is the economy," said senior mass communications major Eboni Plastrik. Current policy makers agree. Congress and the Bush administration are acting quickly to implement last minute revisions to the $700 billion bailout plan and provide relief to the struggling auto industries. A spokesperson for Obama said they anticipate lending additional help to ailing car manufacturers.
Plastrik, however, says she is specifically concerned about education finance.
Though education ranked high on the Obama campaign agenda, chief of transition, John Podesta, divulged some better clues as to what Obama will likely do once in office. "He expects Mr. Obama to reverse some of President Bush's executive orders including offshore drilling, stem cell research restrictions and energy exploration in Utah," cited a Washington Times article.
Aside from these tasks, many observers hope the new president-elect will get his term underway early.
"The next thing Obama must do is pick solid cabinet members," said Associate Professor of Political Science, Vance Gray, during a class session of State and Local Politics.
The president-elect has already chosen Congressman Rahm Emanuel as White House Chief of Staff and speculation suggests an Obama administration might keep Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates around for the next term. Obama said he is aiming for his cabinet to be 'diverse and varied' including Republican and Independent members.
Particularly, the pick for the attorney general will be paramount for African-Americans concerned about justice-related issues, such as the Jena 6 and Troy Davis prosecutions.
Some of the executives in Washington will finish out there terms irrespective of the changing administration.
These will include Republican Ben Bernanke, who will lead the Federal Reserve for at least the first year of the new administration and Mike Cullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who will finish his two-year term in late 2009. Many seats, however, are still up for grabs.
During Obama's 21 month quest for the White House, pundits often urged the democratic nominee to take a more offensive strategy. However, president-elect Obama's calm resolve proved to be the deciding factor for voters weighing the candidates' conduct under pressure.
It is possible that decisive action by the president-elect during the transition period could open his proposals to opposition, like the criticism he received from the Catholic Church for his proposed action to lift abortion restrictions.
And while he may not publicly reveal his immediate strategies, it is also unlikely that Obama will, as one observer advised, "take a much needed vacation."
