Obama Demands Bush do More for Economy, Car Makers, Before January 20.

The Obama-Bush Whitehouse liason this week was more than just a symbolic meeting between the outgoing and ingoing leaders of the free world.

According to the New York Times, President Bush and President elect Obama were in the first stages of negotiation that would see the Whitehouse quickly approve a second major stimulus package for the US economy. The deal is particularly focused on help for the ailing US automaker industry, with car giant General Motors starring down imminent bankruptcy.

Bush wants to get thought a controversial Free Trade Agreement with Colombia, which has been stalled in the US House and Senate. In return for passing the trade agreement Bush would allow a stimulus package tailored for the US car industry and nation wide infrastructure investment to be signed into law well before Obama takes the Whitehouse reigns on January 20, 2009.

More from the New York Times:

Mr. Obama went into his post-election meeting with Mr. Bush on Monday primed to urge him to support emergency aid to the auto industry, advisers to Mr. Obama said. But Democrats also indicate that neither Mr. Obama nor Congressional leaders are inclined to concede the Colombia pact to Mr. Bush, and may decide to wait until Mr. Obama assumes power on Jan. 20..

Separate from his differences with Mr. Bush, Mr. Obama has signaled to the automakers and the unions that his support for short-term aid now, and long-term assistance once he takes office, is contingent on their willingness to agree to transform their industry to make cleaner, more energy-efficient vehicles.

A week after Mr. Obama’s election, and more than two months before he takes office, the steadily weakening economy and the prospect of many more job losses are testing his effort to remain aloof from the nation’s business on the argument that “we only have one president at a time.”

Rahmbo: Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel

Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obamas newly named Presidential Chief of Staff is as partisan and ruthless as they come. He even once joked that the literal translation of his first name was "Go screw yourself."

Emanuel, who earned the nickname of Rahmbo for his past outbursts and hard line attitude to people, has some interesting story's to tell, one of which involves a famous 1990's Clinton campaign moment when he famously Stood up at a Little Rock, Arkansan restaurant.

At "the end of a Clinton campaign, Emanuel expressed dismay with Democrats he felt had betrayed the team. He picked up a steak knife and shouted "Dead!" as he spiked the knife into the table. Shouting the names of other disfavored Democrats one by one, he stabbed the table shouting, "Dead! Dead! Dead!"

But when Rahmbo accepted the position of Whitehouse Chief of Staff by his new boss' he had more of a re-conciliatory tone toward Washington politics.

"I want to say a special word about my Republican colleagues, who serve with dignity, decency and a deep sense of patriotism," Emanuel wrote. "We often disagree, but I respect their motives. Now is a time for unity, and Mr. President-elect, I will do everything in my power to help you stitch together the frayed fabric of our politics, and help summon Americans of both parties to unite in common purpose."

Barack Obama Behind the Scenes on Election Night 2008

Some intimate and revealing photos have just been released of Barack Obama and his family on election night 2008. 85 pictures from official Obama 2008 campaign photographer David Katz have been released of Flikr.

The historical photos show Obama with his family at his Chicago hotel room watching the voter returns on NBC television. Katz follows Obama as the the night goes on, capturing his running mate Senator Joe Biden and wife Jill talk walking into the room, presumably just after he is announced winner at 11pmET US. The also show moments at Grant Park behind the scenes, the speech itself, and just after it.

Timothy Geithner: Treasury Secretary of Obama Administation?

Picture: Timothy Geithner

Could this man be one of the most important men in the world on January 20, 2009?

47-year-old Timothy Geithner is the hot favourite to be named by US President elect Barack Obama as United States Treasury Secretary, prominent economists believe.

As the US economy dramatically falters and the New York stock exchange continues to plunge, the pragmatic and youthful looking Geithner (pronounced GITE-ner) would likely bring confidence to Wall Street and global financial markets if named by Obama either Friday afternoon US time or later in the month.

A Reuters-Thompson survey of prominent economist found over half thought that Tim Geithner would be chosen for the important role of navigating the US economy out of the expected recession, with 26 of 48 respondents saying Geithner would be chosen for the job.

Timothy Geithner is the current president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank and has been on the front lines of the Global Credit crisis and Wall Street meltdown. Despite his relative youth compared to many in the business, Geithner is a seasoned crisis manager, being at the centre of solving, "almost every major financial blowup of the past decade".

“He has a calm way in the face of whatever he’s facing and an irreverent sense of humor,” former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin said of Geithner a few years ago.

Like Obama, Geithner has a reputation for having a cool temperament and seeks consensus when approaching complex problems to solutions. Tim Geithner has also been a voice of alarm in recent years over the possibility of a crisis, that has unfolded in the last few months.

In the last few years Geithner has also closely studied the complex world of credit derivatives (considered financial weapons of mass destruction by Warren Buffett) in an attempt to understand the risks to the wider economy. His skills in this area, along with his history as a financial regulator, also make him the perfect fit to map out a new strategy to build a new regulatory framework in the aftermath of the 2008 economic and credit crisis.

"We’ve seen substantial change in the financial system", Geithner warned almost two years ago.

"With the emergence of a very large universe of leveraged private funds, rapid growth in exposures to more complicated and less liquid financial instruments, all during a period of very low volatility,” said Mr. Geithner in an interview to the New York Times interview around the same time. “This means we know less about market dynamics in conditions of stress.”

Like the Barack Obama"internationalist" brand gained from his four years at school in Indonesia and his Kenyan father, Timothy Geithener also has a similar life story and world view.

As Obama was born in the US and moved overseas at a young age, so to did Geithner. He grew up in Thailand and India, he graduated from the International School in Bangkok, returned to the US and gained a B.A. in government and Asian studies in 1983.

He later achieved an M.A. in International Economics and East Asian Studies, lived across the world including Japan and East Africa and can speak Japanese and Chinese.

He's worked for the IMF and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations since 2001.

He is only a few days younger than Barack Obama, is a registered Democrat and has two young children.

Obama Winning Former Bush Counties in Indiana, Breaking!

BREAKING NEWS!

AT THIS early stage in the US Presidential election, Barack Obama is winning Floyd country Indiana by about 60-40 CNN reports.

A 2004 check of the vote in this county in south east Indiana has Bush 49% to Kerry 41%.....as of writing Obama is pulling in 59% of the vote to McCain's 40%.....

Is this the canary in the colemine???????