Obama bids to temper runaway expectations

AFP
November 10, 2008

Hope is written on the tear-stained faces of his supporters at home and his admirers around the world, and now president-elect Barack Obama must deliver on their giddy expectations.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

But the Democrat and his lieutenants do not want those expectations running out of control as they brace for the inevitable setbacks of government after they take office on January 20.

“We have to remind people that we didn’t get here overnight, and we’re not going to get out of it overnight,” senior advisor Robert Gibbs, who is in line to be White House press secretary, told AFP.

“A new president can make a big difference, but we’re in a hole that’s going to take a lot to get out of,” he said.

After eight years of war and now economic slump under the administration of George W. Bush, the eruption of joy that greeted Obama’s election as America’s first black president on Tuesday night was broad and deep and heartfelt.

In his victory speech on an emotion-filled night in Chicago, Obama said there would be “setbacks and false starts” ahead.

“The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term,” he said.

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This article was posted: Monday, November 10, 2008 at 12:14 pm

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