Stephanopoulos: Obama doing more than any president-elect

[bigtree]

Monday November 24, 2008

As ABC's Robin Roberts asked correspondent and former Clinton advisor George Stephanopoulous on Monday, "Can he afford to wait until January 20 -- and if not, what can he do right now?"

"He's already doing more than any incoming president has ever done this quickly," Stephanopoulos replied. "After today, he will have appointed more key economic advisers more quickly than any president-elect ever before." He added enthusiastically, "We have not seen this kind of combination of star power and brain power and political muscle this early in a cabinet in our lifetimes."

Stephanopoulos also suggested that in addition to announcing his appointments quickly, Obama will be attempting to calm jittery markets by increasing the size of his proposed stimulus plan, agreeing to defer tax increases on the wealthiest Americans until the Bush tax cuts naturally expire at the end of 2010, and calling on world leaders to work together.

ABC's Jake Tapper further noted that "behind the scenes his aides are working with lawmakers on Capitol Hill so that that stimulus package has passed Congress and is ready for his signature on his first day in office. ...Obama also needs to decide what to do with the ailing auto industry, all the while figuring out how to work with the Bush administration, which clearly has a different approach."

Some Democrats, however, believe that Obama should go beyond assembling his team and laying out policy proposals and play a more active role right now. Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) told CNN, "I would like him to become -- at least offer to become -- more involved. And I think that offer would be welcomed, not just by the Democrats in the House and the Senate but also by the White House itself."


http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Stephanopoulos_Obama_doing_more_than_any_1124.html

[TriMetFan]

1. President Obama has no other choice.

If he were to wait till Jan. the nation would fall apart faster. President Obama has to take the football now and start running our Nation. There is a good chance our Nation can fall into a depression and that is what President Obama is trying to stop. That is why I don't understand all the bashing I have seen here in DU over President Obama's picks. The man has to stop the blood flow and he is doing his best by having his chickens in line. So to the people that keep bashing his picks, stop and give the man a chance. We voted for him, now stand with him.

[elocs]

2. I heard this morning on WI public radio that Obama has been picking people with experience

because he needs to hit the ground running and get things done immediately without his choices needing to have a learning curve. It was said that just below these experienced people that Obama has his own people to make sure his own policies are followed. But as throughout the campaign there remains people who believe they know better than Obama and are more than willing to second guess his choices. I stick with Obama because he has had a very good track record so far.

As far as bashing goes, that is what is done here at DU. There has been 8 years of it and many do not have to get out of attack mode. Nothing is ever good or perfect enough for them.