A low-key first day

THOSE SEEKING clues as to what kind of president we're getting in Barack Obama need look no further than his schedule on his first morning in Chicago as the president-elect.

Just hours after rocking the planet with his election victory, celebrated by 275,000 people gathered in Chicago's Grant Park, Obama enjoyed a quiet breakfast at home with his kids and went to the gym to work out before a series of quiet, closed-door meetings. It was low-key, focused, highly disciplined - the same style his supporters say that he'll bring to the Oval Office.

"It's a different role, but he's the same man who organized the most successful campaign in American political history," said Philadelphia power-lawyer Mark Alderman, a key Obama backer speaking by phone from Chicago.

"He runs a very focused and very disciplined and very systematic organization, and he will run the country in the same way."

That said, even Obama supporters are joining political pundits in wondering how much the president-elect - after raising the hopes of many voters, especially African-Americans and the young, and promising ambitious middle-class tax cuts and expanded health care - can achieve with the nation suffering its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

The victorious Obama seemed to acknowledge as much in his historic speech in Grant Park as he became the first African-American elected president.

"The road ahead will be long," he said. "Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term; but America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there."

Obama rolled up his sleeves and went to work on his first day as president-elect. He was already looking to fill a critical post in his administration by offering the job of chief of staff to Rep. Rahm Emanuel, a Chicago congressman who had been a top aide in the Clinton administration. However, it wasn't immediately clear whether Emanuel - a rising Democratic star in the House - is ready to give up his career in elective politics.

The choice of Emanuel - considered a true Beltway insider - is a classic example of the dilemmas facing Obama, who promised to bring sweeping change to Washington yet may seek experienced hands to ensure a fast-running start.

A transition team announced yesterday by Obama includes Bill Clinton's former chief of staff, John Podesta, but also a D.C. outsider, Valerie Jarrett, a close friend of Barack and Michelle Obama, with roots in Chicago politics.

Alderman, chairman of the WolfBlock law firm who is helping out in the transition effort, said that he believes that Obama learned from the mistakes of Clinton's transition in 1992-93, which was criticized for its slowness. He also said that the president-elect will likely name key staffers first and his Cabinet secretaries later, which would be the opposite of Clinton's approach.

It's not at all clear what role, if any, Bill and Hillary Clinton, still a senator from New York, might play in the new administration. Newsweek reported yesterday that wariness over the role of the 42nd president was a factor that prevented Obama from tapping Sen. Clinton as his running mate.

Meanwhile, the Democrats' 2004 nominee, John Kerry, was reportedly angling to be named secretary of state, but other party bigwigs took themselves out of the running - including Gov. Rendell, who plans to complete the last two years of his term.

Rendell had been talking up his own former top aide - David L. Cohen, now a top executive at Comcast - for the chief of staff job.

One of the biggest unresolved questions is how many Republicans Obama will choose for his Cabinet, and whether any will receive a key position. Some experts wonder if Obama will retain President Bush's defense secretary Robert Gates - seen by some as a moderating force on military policy - for a time; and GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel, of Nebraska, an Iraq-war critic, is also the subject of speculation.

Whoever works in the Obama administration - Democrat or Republican - will have to deal with the bleakest situation, at least domestically, since Franklin Roosevelt took office in 1933 during the Great Depression.

"Every president is hemmed in by reality, and this president more than most - what a mess he'll be inheriting!" said Larry Sabato, the University of Virginia history professor and presidential pundit.

Most experts believe that the early months of the Obama administration will be focused on jump-starting the economy - possibly with an infrastructure-rebuilding program that will create jobs and could be offset, partially, by reducing the billions that are now spent in Iraq.

Whatever approach the 44th president chooses, those who know him say that he'll plow forward with a steady and deliberative hand. They point to the way that he ran his $500 million campaign for the White House, with a solid, successful strategy and no internal dissension.

Said Alderman: "I think the hallmark of the Obama administration will be teamwork." *