With the nation’s economic crisis his top priority, President Barack Obama today tackles a list of pressing challenges that includes ending the war in Iraq and confronting the simmering Middle East crisis.
His first full day in the White House is expected to be busy. Among other tasks, Obama is scheduled to meet in private sessions with top economic advisers and military officials.
“I think he understands the moment that the country’s in and the mood the country’s in, and I think he’s excited and anxious to get to work,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told MSNBC.
Immediately after the inaugural ceremony Tuesday, more than a dozen of Obama’s new White House staffers were heading to the West Wing to start work, as the last of President Bush’s staff checked out.
According to tradition, Obama starts his public duties today at Washington’s National Cathedral for the National Prayer Service, an early-morning worship that dates back to George Washington.
The invitation-only service this year was to be led by the Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins, an Indiana Protestant and the first woman to deliver the National Prayer Service.
Obama’s biggest order of business will be clearing his $825 billion economic stimulus plan through Congress. In addition to fielding a team of Capitol Hill veterans to push the program, Obama plans to spend time personally lobbying lawmakers for support.
Changing direction in Iraq also is an immediate concern for Obama, who has promised to end the war and redirect military resources from Iraq to Afghanistan.
During the transition, Obama largely kept silent on foreign policy, deferring to the still-President Bush.
In other first-order business, Obama recently indicated he could make an early move to appoint a diplomatic envoy to the Middle East to work on issues including Gaza. During the first week, the new president also is expected to take initial steps toward fulfilling a campaign promise to close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center.
Also on tap could be a series of executive orders reversing Bush administration policies on air quality, interrogation techniques and other issues.
All presidents on arriving at the White House are asked to select or design a new rug for the Oval Office, and to make their choice from among a number of historical desks to use.
“What the American people … expect from us now is a sense not of simply our trying to advance our own aims, but trying to advance theirs,” Obama said at his inaugural luncheon. “And I’m confident we can do so.”
