Out: Seances. In: Mutts.

If "presidential" means "cautious," the leader-in-waiting was certainly that. (By Linda Davidson -- The Washington Post)
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No technique was spared in projecting stability and reassurance. In addition to the economic muckety-mucks who stood silently on stage behind the president-elect, Obama's aides decided to make it an eight-flag news conference. Thus the television screen was a tableau of red, white, blue, and Paul Volcker's belly sticking through his unbuttoned suit jacket. Obama's lectern was adorned with a graphic announcing "THE OFFICE of the PRESIDENT ELECT."

Reading his opening statement carefully, he offered a caution: "Now, the United States has only one government and one president at a time. And until January 20th of next year, that government is the current administration." True, but for the first time, his words carried the weight of president-elect, and Wall Street traders voted with their buy and sell orders.

When Obama began his speech, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 255 points for the day.

The AP's Nedra Pickler asked what economic measures he would take in his first 100 days. He offered boilerplate about how "my transition team is going to be monitoring very closely what happens over the course of the next several months." The Dow's gains shrank to 145 points.

ABC News's Jake Tapper asked how he would respond to a congratulatory letter from Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "I will be reviewing the letter from President Ahmadinejad, and we will respond appropriately," Obama answered. The Dow's increase on the day had shrunk to 131 points. Only after Obama disappeared behind the curtain did the market resume its advance.

CBS's Chip Reid asked whether he would confront Bush on points of disagreement when they meet next week. "We are gratified by the invitation" to the White House, Obama answered. "I'm not going to anticipate problems."

Vagueness prevailed on matters of appointments ("I'm confident we're going to have an outstanding team"), his replacement in the Senate from Illinois ("This is the governor's decision"), his tax plan ("We're going to be continuing to take a look at the data"), any concerns about U.S. intelligence ("I'm going to skip that") and which Washington school his daughters will attend ("We'll be making a decision about that in the future").

He closed with a final platitude -- "The goal of my plan is to provide tax relief to families that are struggling" -- then called the news conference to a close not quite 20 minutes after he began. Walking off the stage, he called out "bonjour" to a French reporter. That part, at least, was a change we can believe in.