Barack Obama ABC News This Week Video, Photos 1-11-09

Barack Obama on ABC News This Week

President-elect Barack Obama was interviewed on ABC News This Week with George Stephanopoulos on January 11, 2009. See the video, transcript and recent photos of Obama here.

The interview covered a range of topics including the economy, Obama’s proposed economic stimulus package, the crisis in the Gaza Strip in the Middle East, his plans for closing Guantanamo Bay and possible Justice Department investigation of Bush administration officials for torture of prisoners and illegal wiretapping among other crimes.

On the economy.

“These are going to be major challenges. And we’re going to have to make some tough choices… So what our challenge is going to be is identifying what works and putting more money into that, eliminating things that don’t work, and making things that we have more efficient. I’m not suggesting, George, I want to be realistic here, not everything that we talked about during the campaign are we going to be able to do on the pace that we had hoped.”

Barack Obama on ABC News This Week January 11, 2009

On Guantanamo Bay.

“It is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize,” the president-elect explained. “Part of the challenge that you have is that you have a bunch of folks that have been detained, many of whom may be very dangerous who have not been put on trial or have not gone through some adjudication. And some of the evidence against them may be tainted even though it’s true. And so how to balance creating a process that adheres to rule of law, habeas corpus, basic principles of Anglo-American legal system, by doing it in a way that doesn’t result in releasing people who are intent on blowing us up.”

But Obama said unequivocally that it will close. “I don’t want to be ambiguous about this. We are going to close Guantanamo and we are going to make sure that the procedures we set up are ones that abide by our Constitution. That is not only the right thing to do but it actually has to be part of our broader national security strategy because we will send a message to the world that we are serious about our values.”

On Bush administration crimes

“We’re still evaluating how we’re going to approach the whole issue of interrogations, detentions, and so forth. And obviously we’re going to be looking at past practices and I don’t believe that anybody is above the law.” Obama said. “But my instinct is for us to focus on how do we make sure that moving forward we are doing the right thing. That doesn’t mean that if somebody has blatantly broken the law, that they are above the law. But my orientation’s going to be to move forward.”

Sources: ABC News: This Week Transcript Barack Obama (full interview) and Obama: Gitmo Likely Won’t Close in First 100 Days

***Watch the full video on ABC News***

On a lighter note, Obama also talked about the search for the puppy for daughters Sasha and Malia and how they are adjusting to the pending move to the White House.

“They seem to have narrowed it down to a labradoodle or a Portuguese water hound …medium-sized dog, and so, we’re now going to start looking at shelters to see when one of those dogs might come up.”

“So, you’re closing in on it?” I asked Obama.

“We’re closing in on it. This has been tougher than finding a commerce secretary,” the president-elect said.

Obama said his daughters are handling the transition to their new city beautifully.

“They seemed to thrive,” the president-elect said. “I’m trying to figure out why it is that they don’t seemed to be fazed by anything. People think — you know, folks think I’m cool, they are a lot cooler than I am. They just don’t seem to be intimidated.”

Source: George’s Bottom Line: Obama: Finding Girls’ Puppy ‘Tougher Than Finding Commerce Secretary’

Photo credit: ABC News, Getty Images

Barack Obama at Washington DC landmark Ben's Chili Bowl January 10, 2009