BARACK OBAMA will stress the themes of responsibility and openness in tomorrow's inaugural address after he is sworn in as president on the steps of the Capitol, according to senior aides, writes Denis Stauntonin Washington
The president-elect’s press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said Mr Obama had already written the bulk of the speech, which will call for a new era of responsible behaviour in government, business and among individuals.
“We need more responsibility and accountability, certainly in the way our government acts,” Mr Gibbs told Fox News Sunday.
“We have to have it certainly in many of our financial institutions that sort of have gotten us to where we are in this economic crisis today. Obviously the American people are all going to have to give some.”
Mr Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, said the new president will ask Americans to reject the “culture of anything goes” and restore a national value system that honours responsibility and accountability.
In a message to supporters on Saturday, the president-elect announced the formation of Organizing for America, harnessing the network of volunteers that drove his election campaign to promote reform in Washington and to improve their local communities.
“As president, I will need the help of all Americans to meet the challenges that lie ahead. That’s why I’m asking people like you who fought for change during the campaign to continue fighting for change in your communities.
“Since the election, hundreds of thousands of you have shared your ideas about how this movement should move forward, and we’ve listened carefully,” Mr Obama said.
“Volunteers, grass roots leaders and ordinary citizens will continue to drive our organisation, helping us bring about the changes we proposed during the campaign: a solution to our economic crisis, an end to the war in Iraq, affordable healthcare for all and new sources of energy to power our economy and protect our environment.”
More than 500,000 of Mr Obama’s supporters took part in a survey on the future of the campaign organisation and the network could help the incoming president to persuade Congress to enact his legislative agenda.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday signalled that congressional Democrats believe Mr Obama is too cautious in waiting for President George Bush’s tax cuts on the rich to expire next year rather than rescinding them immediately and in his reluctance to investigate alleged lawbreaking by the Bush administration. “We had campaigned in saying what the Republican Congressional Budget Office told us: Nothing contributed more to the budget deficit than the tax cuts for the wealthiest people in America,” Ms Pelosi said.
“I don’t want them to wait two years to expire. Because they have to prove their worth to me as to how they grow the economy, how they create jobs.” The speaker added that she wants to investigate whether the justice department under Mr Bush acted illegally in firing a group of federal prosecutors.
“I think that we have to learn from the past,” she said. “Past is prologue.”
House Democrats last week recommended a criminal investigation to determine whether administration officials broke the law in the name of national security, citing the use of torture in the interrogation of foreign detainees, eavesdropping on phone calls without a warrant and manipulation of intelligence.
Mr Obama has made clear that he will ban the use of torture and review all Mr Bush’s executive orders to determine if the outgoing president exceeded his constitutional powers. In a television interview last week, however, Mr Obama said he was more interested in looking to the future rather than dwelling on past misdeeds.
“I don’t believe that anybody is above the law,” he said. “On the other hand, I also have a belief that we need to look forward, as opposed to looking backwards.”