KEY POINTS:
President-elect Barack Obama yesterday promised to rebuild his country's "moral stature in the world".
In his first television interview since the election, he said he would ban torture by the military, close Guantanamo Bay upon taking office, pull troops out of Iraq and shore up Afghanistan.
"Those are
part and parcel of an effort to regain America's moral stature in the world," he told CBS as he outlined a dramatic foreign policy break with the man he will replace on January 21, George W. Bush.
He also said it would be "a disaster" if the United States car industry were to collapse in the midst of today's economic crisis.
Obama provided a glimpse of both the problems his Administration will face and the bipartisan tone he intends to adopt in office.
The President-elect, joined by his wife, Michelle, discussed his priorities and the impact of the election on his family.
His first priority, he said, was appointing a new national security team to ensure a smooth transition to power. But the wide-ranging interview focused largely on the threats to the US economy.
"It's my belief that we need to provide assistance to the auto industry," Obama told CBS's 60 Minutes, adding: "But I think that it can't be a blank cheque."
The Senate, which he resigned from yesterday, is expected to vote this week on emergency loans to the beleaguered car industry, despite stiff opposition from Republicans.
Obama is to meet his defeated rival John McCain this week for the first time since the debates that punctuated their occasionally ill-tempered battle. The Chicago meeting is billed as a bid to usher in a new era of bipartisanship, a refrain of Obama's campaign.
Unlike Obama's other former rival, Hillary Clinton, who is among the top contenders for Secretary of State, McCain is not being considered for a formal role in the Administration. Advisers say he will be asked for help on issues where he and Obama share common ground, including climate change, ethics reform, immigration and torture.
That bipartisan mood between the former rivals may be tested if McCain opposes a taxpayer bailout of Detroit. The new bill would allow some of the US$700 billion ($1.245 trillion) fund to bail out the financial services industry to be used to rescue the car industry.
Obama wants the aid to ensure there is a sustainable car industry, "so that we are creating a bridge loan to somewhere as opposed to a bridge loan to nowhere. And that's, I think, what you haven't yet seen."
On the broader economy he said "the challenges that we're confronting are enormous, and they're multiple. And so there are times during the course of a given day where you think, 'Where do I start in terms of moving things forward?'
"And 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."
