Bush sets Oval Office meeting with Obama

Lobbying promise
The official Obama campaign Web Site said no political appointees would be permitted to work on "regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years." It added that "no political appointee will be able to lobby the executive branch after leaving government service during the remainder of the administration."

But almost exactly one year ago, on Nov. 3, 2007, candidate Obama went considerably further than that while campaigning in South Carolina.

"I don't take a dime of their money, and when I am president, they won't find a job in my White House," he said of lobbyists at the time.

Because they often have prior experience in government or politics, lobbyists have routinely filled out the list of potential appointees for past presidents of both parties.

Focus on Iraq?
Former rival John McCain began discussing with senior aides what role he will play in the Senate now that he has promised to work with Obama in his concession speech.

One obvious focus will be the war in Iraq. After two years spent more on the campaign than in the Senate, McCain will return as the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee. That will put the four-term Arizona senator in a position to influence Obama's plan to set a 16-month timeline to withdraw U.S. troops from combat in Iraq.

During the campaign, McCain staunchly opposed setting a deadline even as the Iraqi government began working with the Bush administration to do so.

But in conceding the presidency to Obama, McCain pledged "to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face."

Aides said they believed McCain would work well with Obama as president because much of his best work in the Senate had been done with Democrats, including a landmark campaign finance law he crafted with Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold.

Global challenges
The Obama administration will confront massive challenges both at home and abroad, as made clear on the first day after Obama's historic victory over McCain in Tuesday's election.

The U.S. stock market greeted his elevation to the pinnacle of American power by plunging nearly 500 points on more dire news about an economy in the throes of its worst crisis since the 1930s Great Depression.

And the Kremlin sounded off as well, with President Dmitry Medvedev declaring: "Mechanisms must be created to block mistaken, egoistical and sometimes simply dangerous decisions of certain members of the international community" — an apparent reference to the United States under President George W. Bush.

Medvedev issued the stark challenge even as he threatened to erect missiles along the Polish border if an Obama administration were to go forward with plans laid out by the Bush administration to create a missile shield in the Eastern Europe.

Before taking office in 10 weeks, Obama is planning a trip to Hawaii in December to get away with his family before their move to the White House — and to honor his grandmother, who died Sunday at her home there.

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