Obama to pick team

US: After the euphoria of his historic election win Barack Obama got down Thursday to choosing a presidential team that faces a mountain of problems, not least the economic crisis and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Democrat dodged the limelight after being elected America’s first black president, but behind-the-scenes activity picked up with the formal creation of a team to handle his transition to power ahead of the January 20 inauguration.

In an immediate reminder of the mammoth task ahead, the Dow Jones share average plummeted nearly 500 points Wednesday on resurgent fears of a deep recession. This was followed by large sell-offs and a raft of negative financial data in Asia and Europe.

Democrats said Obama had asked combative congressman and former Clinton White House aide Rahm Emanuel, 48, to be his chief of staff, a vital post that helps set the tempo of the administration.

While Bill Clinton, the last Democrat in the White House, took weeks to announce his cabinet, Obama does not have the luxury of time as more than a trillion dollars is dispensed to bail out Wall Street. Obama has hinted at possible names to take over as treasury secretary.

He noted to CNN last week that his economic advisers include Clinton’s last treasury secretary Larry Summers, 53, as well as former Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker, 81; and mega-rich investor Warren Buffett, 78.

Another name being mentioned in the media for Obama’s economic overseer is Timothy Geithner, 47, who as president of the New York Federal Reserve has been in charge of executing the US central bank’s sudden explosion of market activity. Obama made note of the acute set of challenges he faces in his victory speech late Tuesday before 240,000 people in Chicago and millions more watching at home in the United States and around the world. “Even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime — two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century,” he said.

“But America — I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you — we as a people will get there.” Obama, a 47-year-old Illinois senator, crushed Republican John McCain, 72, with an inspirational message of hope and change. But now the hard part begins as he confronts the stricken economy along with his promises to reduced troop levels in Iraq and make a success of Afghanistan.

Names floating in the media as possi2ble secretaries of defense include current Pentagon chief Robert Gates — who Obama has praised — as well as the retiring senator for Nebraska Chuck Hagel, another Republican. Also seen as in the running are Richard Danzig, navy secretary under Bill Clinton and an Obama adviser during the campaign, and George W. Bush’s former secretary of state Colin Powell.

The transition office in Washington will be run by co-chairs John Podesta, a former chief of staff to Clinton; Pete Rouse, who was Obama’s Senate chief of staff; and the Democrat’s close friend Valerie Jarrett. Their job will be to vet cabinet nominees and prepare the vital first political moves of the new administration. Bush offered generous praise to his successor and pledged his “complete cooperation” during the transition period. He invited the Obamas to the White House at their earliest convenience.

Chicago, Thursday, AFP