Obama: ‘Friendship’ not a budget priority
President-elect Barack Obama warned home-state friends and former colleagues not to expect any special treatment when his administration starts tackling the economy next year. “I want to be clear: Friendship doesn’t come into this,” he said Tuesday in Chicago. “That’s part of the old way of doing business. The new way of doing business is, ‘Let’s figure out what projects, what investments are going to give the American economy the most bang for the buck.'”
Naming more senior members of his economic team, Obama introduced his new budget director, Peter Orszag, along with Rob Nabors, the future deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget.
In addition, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has agreed to serve in Obama’s Cabinet, advisers said. An official close to the Obama transition team said it was likely Gates would be named next week. Advisers also said Obama appears poised to name retired Gen. James Jones, a former Marine commandant and onetime NATO supreme allied commander, to be national security adviser. PAGE 6
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Pledging to scour the federal budget for waste and excess amid challenging financial times, President-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday also threw a dash of reality at any home-state friends and former colleagues who might be expecting a shipment of pork from his White House.
“I want to be clear: Friendship doesn’t come into this,” he said. “That’s part of the old way of doing business. The new way of doing business is, ‘Let’s figure out what projects, what investments are going to give the American economy the most bang for the buck.'”
One could almost hear jaws dropping in City Hall and in Springfield, places that have long thrived on political clout to deliver big-ticket projects and taxpayer money.
Friends were not the only ones singled out, as Obama also challenged “millionaire farmers” and crop subsidies, a target he also criticized — although perhaps slightly less sharply — as he campaigned a year ago before the Iowa caucuses.
While indicating he intends to put federal spending priorities under scrutiny, Obama offered few details during a news conference Tuesday.
He made little mention of entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security that represent more than half of the federal budget.
Attacking government largesse is always a popular message. But Obama also has plenty of experience on the other side, in Springfield and Washington, where he made numerous special requests for local projects often called earmarks.
During the campaign, Sen. John McCain, for example, repeatedly mocked an unsuccessful request for $3 million in federal funding for a new projection system at Chicago’s Adler Planetarium.
Whatever Obama’s remarks about federal spending, Illinois still is likely to secure its share of pork.
Even with the departure from the state’s congressional delegation of Obama and Rep. Rahm Emanuel, who will be the next White House chief of staff, Illinois will maintain plenty of clout.
“The president-elect’s stimulus bill is going to be a job creator that we hope will give municipalities across Illinois a much-needed boost,” said Christina Angarola, a spokeswoman for Sen. Dick Durbin, the assistant majority leader.
Obama has maintained that a key component of any economic stimulus package would be spending on roads, bridges and other infrastructure. His administration almost certainly will find a way to steer some of that money to Illinois.
Later Tuesday, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) discussed Obama’s admonishment about helping friends in Chicago .
“If we create an economy in which we can all thrive, Chicagoans will benefit. People in Illinois will benefit and I think if the nation benefits, so do the people here,” Gutierrez said on WTTW-Ch. 11’s “Chicago Tonight.” “But I certainly hope … he can make a call to the International Olympic Committee, still. I don’t think that’s part of the budget, in order to stimulate our own local economy here in the city of Chicago.”
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As Obama committed himself to a leaner federal government amid fresh signs of economic distress, he also sought to prepare Americans for sacrifice and tighter spending, even as he offers dramatic and expensive plans.
“If we are going to make the investments we need, we also have to be willing to shed the spending that we don’t need,” he said. “In these challenging times, when we are facing both rising deficits and a sinking economy, budget reform is not an option. It’s a necessity.”
Obama introduced Peter Orszag as his new budget director. The current head of the Congressional Budget Office, Orszag specializes in trying to lower the rising cost of health care. Rob Nabors, the future deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, was also introduced.
It was the second day in a row that Obama stopped at a basement ballroom in the Hilton Chicago to meet with reporters.
He is expected to return Wednesday to make additional announcements and seek to show he is moving aggressively to deal with the nation’s growing financial pains.
Tuesday’s developments came against the backdrop of troubling data showing economic activity slowed worse than expected and the announcement of yet another hugely expensive initiative by the Federal Reserve to ease the credit crunch.
While acknowledging that there is only one president at a time, Obama made no apologies for rapidly building his team and outlining his goals.
“Given the extraordinary circumstances that we find ourselves in, however, I think it is very important for the American people to understand that we are putting together a first-class team,” he said. “We don’t intend to stumble into the next administration.”
Obama stressed that his actions in recent days are not just aimed at soothing the markets. “We also must restore the confidence of middle-class families that their government is on their side,” he said.
Calling his victory a “decisive win,” Obama said voters handed him a “mandate to move the country in a new direction.” Still, he added, humility and Republican input will remain essential.
“I won 53 percent of the vote. That means 46 or 47 percent of the country voted for John McCain,” he said. “In order for us to be effective, given the scope and the scale of the challenges that we face, Republicans and Democrats are going to have to work together.”
Despite Obama’s pledge to scrub the federal budget “line by line,” to achieve any real savings he will need to confront massive entitlement programs. That comes with significant political risk.
Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, an independent fiscal watchdog group, said: “The real money isn’t in scrubbing the budget for outdated programs. It’s so important to do that. It helps the credibility of the government. But the real money comes in very popular programs — the entitlement programs.”
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Their job: Raise cash for bash
President-elect Barack Obama’s inaugural committee has announced a fundraising team heavily reliant on many of the same Chicagoans who assisted his campaign. The team will be charged with raising millions of dollars needed for the parties to be thrown in his honor in Washington on Jan. 20.
The committee said it would abide by an “unprecedented set of limitations on fundraising” and would not accept contributions from corporations, political action committees, currently registered federal lobbyists, non-U.S. citizens or registered foreign agents. A $50,000 limit will be set on individual contributions.
Co-chairs of the group from Chicago will include mayoral brother William Daley, campaign finance chair Penny Pritzker, investment manager John Rogers and insurance executive Patrick Ryan. Also named was Julianna Smoot, who was the top staff person for the Obama campaign’s fundraising machine.
— John McCormick
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Peter Orszag’s biography in brief
Position: Serves as director of the Congressional Budget Office, overseeing a staff of about 235 people and an annual budget of roughly $40million. The office provides non-partisan analyses of economic and budgetary issues for lawmakers.
Experience: During the Clinton administration, Orszag served as special assistant to the president for economic policy and senior economic adviser at the National Economic Council.
Education: Undergraduate degree in economics from Princeton University; doctorate from the London School of Economics, which he attended as a Marshall scholar.
Family: Divorced, father of two young children.
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Obama advisers bring the ‘stache: Washington suddenly seeing impressive display of old-school facial hair: chicagotribune.com/mustache
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