Political Browser: Obama Emphasizes Security
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Monday, November 17, 2008; Page A04
President-elect Barack Obama said in an interview broadcast last night that selecting his national security team is one of his top priorities since terrorists might try to attack the United States during the White House transition.
"I think it's important to get a national security team in place because transition periods are potentially times of vulnerability to a terrorist attack," Obama told CBS's "60 Minutes." "We want to make sure that there is as seamless a transition on national security as possible."
In his first television interview since his election, Obama said he has spent the days since the election on short- and long-term issues, from doing "whatever it takes" to stabilize the economy, restore consumer confidence and create jobs, to getting sound health care and energy policies through Congress.
The president-elect also said that once in office he will work with his security team and the military to draw down U.S. troops in Iraq, shore up Afghanistan and "stamp out al-Qaeda once and for all."
While investors are still riding a roller coaster on Wall Street, Obama said the economy would have deteriorated even more without the $700 billion bank bailout. Re-regulation is a legislative priority, he said, not to crush "the entrepreneurial spirit and risk-taking of American capitalism" but to "restore a sense of balance."
"There's no doubt that we have not been able yet to reset the confidence in the financial markets and in the consumer markets and among businesses that allow the economy to move forward in a strong way," Obama said. "And my job as president is going to be to make sure that we restore that confidence."
He also said: "We shouldn't worry about the deficit next year or even the year after. . . . The most important thing is that we avoid a deepening recession."
Obama credited Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. for trying to remedy "an unprecedented crisis."
"Hank Paulson has worked tirelessly under some very difficult circumstances," Obama said. "And I think Hank would be the first one to acknowledge that probably not everything that's been done has worked the way he had hoped it would work."
