Obama Meets the Press

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Nov 7, 2008 10:45PM

Photograph of President-elect Obama during his first press conference by Charles Dharapak/AP. Standing behind Obama are (L-R) Vice President-elect Biden, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, Former FED Chairman Paul Volcker and newly appointed Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

For the first time since being elected, Sen. Barack Obama addressed the press on economic issues from a downtown Chicago hotel this afternoon and then took questions from reporters for a short time. Obama was quick to make sure he didn't step on the toes of the current administration, saying:

The United States has only one government and one President, and until January 20th of next year, that government is the current Administration. I have spoken to President Bush, and I appreciate his commitment to ensuring that his economic policy team keeps us fully informed as developments unfold.

He then outlined his economic concerns that will be facing the Obamistration. Following the statement, he fielded a few questions from reporters, nothing particularly hard-hitting, though he did seem to make an instant celebrity of the Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet who discussed with the President-Elect an injury she sustained at Obamapalooza. Check out the entire conference after the jump. And if that's not enough Obama for you, WTTW is replaying the Bob Sirott interview with Obama from 2004 tonight at 7:30 p.m.