Just two weeks after his historic election, US president-elect Barack Obama yesterday confirmed he would have Republicans in his administration and admitted there were times when he did not know where to begin in trying to deal with the enormous challenges awaiting him in the White House.
In his first interview since the election, Obama acknowledged the daunting nature of assuming office at a time of war and global economic crisis.
"The challenges that we are confronting are enormous and they are multiple. And so there are times during the course of a given day where you think: 'Where do I start in terms of moving - moving things forward?'," the president-elect told CBS television's 60 Minutes programme.
He said conversations with past presidents had persuaded him there was a "certain loneliness" to being in the White House.
"You'll get advice, and you'll get counsel," he said. "Ultimately, you're the person who's going to be making decisions. And - and I think that - even now, you know, I ... you can already feel that fact."
The interview, which also featured Obama's wife, Michelle, was a mixture of the personal as well as the political. The couple, who had some good-natured sparring, also said the fact that he was president-elect had not yet entirely sunk in.
However, Obama said he began to gain a sense of what his victory meant for many Americans on election night when his mother-in-law reached over to squeeze his hand.
"You had this sense of, well, what's she thinking? For a black woman who grew up in the 50s, in a segregated Chicago, to watch her daughter become first lady of the United States," he said. "There was that sense across the country."
It became apparent, however, that the economy would remain the most pressing concern of the 64 days remaining until Obama takes office on January 20, and once he enters the White House.
Obama brushed aside comparisons between the current crisis and the Great Depression of the 1930s. He also ruled out a New Deal type solution but said he wanted to send a message to Americans that "we're going to be thinking about them and what they're going through".
"For us to simply recreate what existed back in the 30s in the 21st century - I think would be missing the boat," Obama said. "I think the basic principle that government has a role to play in kick-starting an economy that has ground to a halt is sound. I think our basic principle that this is a free market system and that that has worked for us, that it creates innovation and risk taking - I think that's a principle that we've got to hold to as well."
He said that George Bush's bail-out plan was not doing enough for ordinary Americans, and that as a first step he was determined to bring in measures that would help homeowners avoid falling behind on their mortgages and losing their homes, Obama said.
"We have not focused on foreclosures and what's happening to homeowners as much as I would like," he said. "One thing I'm determined is that if we don't have a clear, focused programme for homeowners by the time I take office, we will after I take office."
Obama offered similar reassurances for early action on unemployment in the Democrats' weekly radio address on Saturday. The president-elect, in a break with tradition, also videotaped the speech and posted it online.
However, he was less forthcoming about a bail-out for America's struggling car makers. "For the auto industry to completely collapse would be a disaster in this kind of environment," he told CBS. "We need to provide assistance, but I think that it can't be a blank cheque."
Other priorities in terms of policy included Guantanamo. Obama renewed his campaign pledge to close the detention centre. "I have said repeatedly that I will close Guantanamo and I will follow through on that," he said.
In terms of immediate challenges, Obama listed among his first priorities in the transition the need to put a national security team in place.
"Transition periods are traditionally times of vulnerability in terms of terrorist attack so we want to make sure that there is as seamless as a transition as possible," he said.
Obama has spent virtually all of his time since the election in Chicago. After 22 months of frenetic activity on the campaign trail, he welcomed the period as a time for his family to return to some semblance of a normal life.
"There seem to be more people hovering around me," the president-elect said. "On the other hand, I'm sleeping in my own bed."
While in Chicago, Obama has been focused on assembling his team in the White House and the cabinet. He told CBS he would have at least one Republican in his cabinet, making good his pledge to welcome powerful personalities with competing views to his White House. But he gave no further details last night.
Obama also gave away nothing about whether Hillary Clinton was on his shortlist of candidates for the post of secretary of state.
The impression that Obama was leaning towards a "team of rivals" including even his most formidable opponent - Clinton - grew over the weekend with neither camp trying to damp down speculation. However, Obama said only that he valued Clinton's advice.
Another potential contender for secretary of state, the New Mexico governor, Bill Richardson, has also met Obama to discuss the post. So far, Obama's transition team has focused on filling positions at the White House which are not contingent on confirmation by the Senate. The choices since then have revealed a mix of campaign loyalists and veterans of Bill Clinton's administration.
Suzanne Goldenberg- guardian.co.uk
