His aides have been placing pressure on him to back down until he assumes office saying that the country can have only one president at a time. He brushed aside the appeal of his aides and boldly made the statement public. Such deep involvement by a president elect before taking office has rarely been witnessed. Yet on the Gaza issue Mr. Obama has remained silent.

Mr. Obama had a consultation with Bush in the White House a day before which is what sparked the future president to make his appeal. He warned

“This recession could linger for years.” His solution to the problem is a massive job creation program along with major tax cuts which he wants the congress to adopt as soon as possible.

The future president said “I don’t believe it’s too late to change course, but it will be if we don’t take dramatic action as soon as possible. If nothing is done… the unemployment rate could reach double digits.” He said the economic meltdown had followed “after a period of profound irresponsibility.” From the common American citizen to the political leaders and specifically the Wall Street have been irresponsible regarding the economy which is why the country is in the current problem.

Mr. Obama has been intervening in matters of the economy since the last four days. Yesterday’s efforts were however the most high profile involvement that he has shown so far. He addressed those Republicans that that had been criticizing his program saying in his own defense that the rescue initiative was more than “just a public works programme.” The program, if implemented is aimed at creating over three million jobs that is going to “spark the creation of a new clean energy economy.”

The president elect has also shown interested in making renewable energy sources more accessible. He aims to double the amount that is currently being generated so that around 75% of the government buildings can be made more energy efficient along with a large number of homes. These measures would enable the U.S to save billions of dollars and create millions of jobs.

The fundamental change initiated by the newly elected President who is set to take office in the first month of 2009 has been welcomed by the science academy and the American public in general. Mr. Obama has proposed marine biologist Jane Lubchenco and Harvard physicist John Holdren at top science posts. The two gentlemen are experts on climatic change and have been advocating forceful government response.

The Harvard physicist will be playing the role of Obama’s science advisor as he has been appointed at the post of director of White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. On the other hand the marine biologist Lubchenco has been appointed as the head of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This department is responsible for conducting all the government related research on global warming and is also in charge of ocean and atmospheric studies.

Holdren has also been tagged with the responsibility to direct the president’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology. The Nobel Prize winning scientist Harold Varmus will also be joining him as the co-chairman. Harold has previously served as the director of the National Institute of Health. Eric Lander, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will also be joining them.

Obama was recorded as saying “From landing on the moon, to sequencing the human genome, to inventing the Internet, America has been the first to cross that new frontier because we had leaders who paved the way,” during his weekly radio address. He went further on to say “Leaders who not only invested in our scientists, but who respected the integrity of the scientific process.”

He said with regards to his choice of appointing the carefully chosen team of scientists “I could not have a better team to guide me in this work.”