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Senator Obama says bye, Prez-elect makes to-do list
Published on Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 23:17 in 
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Washington: Setting out his priorities, US President-elect Barack Obama has said creating a focused programme to help troubled homeowners and providing assistance to the auto industry to prevent its collapse were some of the tasks before the nation.
In his first post-election interview, Obama also told 'CBS 60 Minutes' that he would soon make cabinet appointments, which will include a Republican.
The first African-American President-elect of the US also warned that the challenges confronted by the country are "enormous".
"I think that part of this next two months is to really get a clear set of priorities, understanding we're not going be able to do everything at once, making sure the team is in place, and moving forward in a very deliberate way and sending a clear signal to the American people that we're going to be thinking about them and what they're going through," he said.
Turning to the issue of homeowners, he said, "we have not focused on foreclosures and what's happening to homeowners as much as I would like... We've got to... set up a negotiation between banks and borrowers so that people can stay in their homes."
"One thing I'm determined is that if we don't have a clear focused programme for homeowners by the time I take office, we will after I take office," Obama said.
He also said it would be a "disaster" if the auto industry completely collapses.
"So it's my belief that we need to provide assistance to the auto industry. But I think that it can't be a blank check
"My hope is that over the course of the next week, between the White House and Congress, the discussions are shaped around providing assistance but making sure that that assistance is conditioned on labour, management, suppliers, lenders, all of the stakeholders coming together with a plan."
The President-elect today also wrote a farewell letter to the people of Illinois extending "a very affectionate thanks," following his resignation from the US Senate.
"Today, I am ending one journey to begin another," Obama said in the letter published in the Chicago Sun-Times and other newspapers in his home state.
He recalled moving to Illinois two decades ago "as a young man eager to do my part in building a better America."
"On the South Side of Chicago, I worked with families who had lost jobs and lost hope when the local steel plant closed. It wasn't easy, but we slowly rebuilt those neighbourhoods one block at a time, and in the process I received the best education I ever had," he wrote.
"With your help, along with the service and sacrifice of Americans across the nation who are hungry for change and ready to bring it about, I have faith that all will in fact be well. And it is with that faith, and the high hopes I have for the enduring power of the American idea, that I offer the people of my beloved home a very affectionate thanks," Obama concluded.
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