First, Obama will hold a press conference today at 11 am announcing Eric Shinseki as his choice to head veterans affairs. Also, on Meet the Press this morning, amid all the economic and foreign policy talk, Obama said the White House is really the people's house and he's going to make it more open. Local school children are going to visit and he's going to invite all kinds of artists, poets, musicians and scientists to be a part. It's refreshing to have a president who values art and culture and science.
Video below:
Wash Times: Mr. Obama, speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press," outlined for the first time a way to showcase the "tapestry that is America."
"We want to invite kids from local schools into the White House," he said. He said he wants the White House to be a forum for "elevating science once again and having lectures in the White House -- traveling to the stars or breaking down atoms, inspiring our youth."
He said he would like to invite jazz and classical musicians and have poetry readings in the White House.
"Our art and our culture, our science -- that's the essence of what makes America special, and we want to project that as much as possible when we're in the White House," he said.
He said he and his wife, Michelle Obama, want to "open up the White House and remind people this is the people's house."
Tom Brokaw officially announced an under the weather David Gregory as the new moderator for Meet the Press.
Also on MTP, Obama vowed tough financial regulations:
Reuters: President-elect Barack Obama said on Sunday he would put strong new financial regulation at the center of his economic recovery program to force more accountability on the banking industry.Obama also said there should be a new era of shared wins and losses. As CEOs are laying off people, they ought to be cutting their $25 million salaries. Of course that can't be legislated but Obama saying it sets a bar.
Obama again warned that the U.S. economic crisis, which saw the country lose more than half a million jobs in November alone, would worsen before it gets better.
"As part of our economic recovery package what you will see coming out of my administration, right at the center, is a strong set of financial regulations," Obama said in a taped appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" television show.
"Banks, ratings agencies, mortgage brokers, a whole bunch of folks (will) start having to be much more accountable and behave much more responsibly.
"We've got to have transparency, openness, fair dealing in our financial markets and that's an area where I think over the last eight years we've fallen short."
Obama beamed when Brokaw mentioned that Caroline Kennedy might be interested Hillary's Senate seat in New York but he said he didn't want to get involved in NY politics.
Meet the Press transcript.
Obama won't allow auto companies to go down:
On international terror
Obama reiterates direct diplomacy with Iran
