Obama promises action on turmoil

President-elect Barack Obama called for urgent action to rescue the flagging U.S. economy and stop the hemorrhage of jobs, as unemployment hit a 14-year high and looked set to rise further.

In his first weekly radio address since his decisive election victory, the Illinois Democrat on Saturday said his administration would "hit the ground running on January 20th because we don't have a moment to lose."

Obama urged Congress to move quickly to pass a new economic stimulus plan to help middle-class Americans amid a wave of layoffs that has seen unemployment spike, particularly in the retail and manufacturing sectors.

"We need a rescue plan for the middle class that invests in immediate efforts to create jobs and provides relief to families that are watching their paychecks shrink and their life savings disappear," the president-elect said, according to a report by Agence France-Presse.

"Some of those choices will be difficult, but America is a strong and resilient country," he said. "I know that we will succeed if we put aside partisanship and work together as one nation."

The White House has been reluctant to back a fresh stimulus package in the remaining days of President George W. Bush's administration, saying the pair of rescue plans already passed -- $168-billion plan earlier this year and a $700-billion rescue program on Oct. 3 -- need time to take effect.

But Democrats, bolstered by a wave of victories in Tuesday's vote, have called for a $60-100 billion stimulus package in November, before the end of Bush's term on Jan. 20. Government figures released Friday showed that the U.S. unemployment rate in October rose to 6.5 percent, its highest level since 1994. According to forecasts, the jobless rate could hit 7.5 percent next year.

Foreign policy talks
On Saturday, Obama scheduled no public events after holding a series of meetings Friday to plan his transition to the White House, including talks with his economic advisors. He also delivered his first press conference as president-elect.

"We only have one president at a time," Obama told reporters, as sidestepped questions about Iran and refused to discuss the now-daily classified intelligence briefing he receives from the CIA, as does Bush.

But Obama dove into foreign policy talks, calling heads of government from Egypt, Italy, Pakistan, Poland, Spain and Saudi Arabia on Friday, after speaking Thursday with leaders of Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Mexico and South Korea.

An advisor to Obama rushed to clarify that Obama had made no commitment on building a missile defense shield in eastern Europe during talks with Polish President Lech Kaczynski, contradicting the Polish president's version of events.

Earlier, a statement from Kaczynski after the two men spoke by telephone said Obama had said he would go ahead with plans to build a missile defense shield in eastern Europe despite threats from Russia.

In Moscow Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Obama want to meet "soon," the Kremlin announced Saturday. During a telephone conversation, Medvedev and Obama spoke about "the need to organize a meeting soon," said the Kremlin in a statement, without specifying a date.

But Obama's office did not issue a statement describing the call on Saturday. A Kremlin spokesman declined to elaborate or say when such a meeting could take place.

A Bush administration plan for setting up a missile shield close to Russia's borders has been a sore point with the Kremlin and has served as another dent in its battered relationship with the U.S.

On Wednesday, the day after Obama's election, Medvedev threatened to move short-range missiles to Russia's borders with NATO allies even as the U.S. offered new proposals on nuclear arms reductions as well as missile defense. Allowing Russian observers at planned missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic were among them, U.S. officials told The Associated Press.

Obama also confirmed to reporters that he had been sent a letter from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad following his victory over Republican John McCain on Tuesday, and planned to review it and "respond appropriately."

However, he said that Iran's development of nuclear weapons was "unacceptable" and the Islamic republic must end its "support of terrorist organizations."Obama's words drew a sharp rebuke from Iran's parliament speaker Ali Larijani, who said the U.S. president-elect's words signify "a pursuit of the same erroneous policy as in the past," Iranian official media said.

Photo: AP