If Barack Obama thought he'd get a break after the election, reality has proven otherwise: His life as president- elect has shown to be every bit as busy as life on the gruelling campaign trail. From receiving his first intelligence briefing, to picking his staff, speaking with world leaders, finding a plan to lift America out of the economic morass, and trying fulfill a family promise, Obama's had a full plate of challenges.
The Illinois senator has begun each day with a rigorous workout at his gym in Chicago, giving himself some down time to mentally and physically prepare for his packed agenda. Hardly seen in public since his victory speech Tuesday, he emerged from one workout session wearing sneakers, dark blue track pants, a T-shirt, baseball cap and sunglasses while carrying two cell phones in one hand.
While most Americans were still overjoyed by the historic election of an African American to the White House, Obama looked to quickly assemble a team to tackle a host of pressing problems, including a failing economy and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"I do not underestimate the enormity of the task that lies ahead," Obama said in his first press conference on Friday to address the urgent needs of the economy and inspire the confidence of the people he will be leading after his inauguration in January.
The scene was carefully staged. To his right was his vice president, Joe Biden, and on the left was his controversial choice for chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. The congressman posted to manage the White House is unwilling to work across party lines and undermines Obama's pledge to govern from the centre, the Republicans charge.
Behind them stood more than a dozen members of his economic team brought together to help Obama develop an economic recovery plan. But it wasn't the only team he put together since election night. On Wednesday, he hired Bill Clinton's former chief of staff, John Podesta, and two other trusted aides to oversee the transfer of power from the Bush administration.
The following day, Obama got his first taste of the immense responsibilities of the job. Intelligence officials sat him down in Chicago to share some of the nation's most vital secrets. The session, called the "president's daily briefing," will be his first order of business every morning in the White House.
He also picked up the phone to return congratulatory calls from leaders from all over the world, including the presidents or prime ministers of Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Spain and South Korea. A lot more sent congratulatory letters, but not all got a reply.
One of them was Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose nuclear aspirations will be one of the biggest challenges of the next US president. Obama said he'll cautiously review the letter, but refused to say when he might follow through on a campaign pledge to elevate diplomatic talks with Iran.
"I want to be very careful that we are sending the right signals to the world as a whole that I am not the president and I won't be until January 20th," Obama said. Obama also reached out to the only other people who can describe the job from first hand experience, former presidents Jimmy Carter, George HW Bush, Clinton and the current White House occupant with whom he'll meet in the Oval Office on Monday.
With all those tasks checked off the list, Obama was struggling to deliver on one of the very first promises as president: To reward his two girls, 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha, with a puppy for putting up with his absence during the campaign.
The Obamas want to rescue a dog from a shelter, but it's hard to find one there that won't stir up Malia's allergies, he said. "So whether we're going to be able to balance those two things I think is a pressing issue on the Obama household." Maslikowski and Tony Czuczka add:
For the first time in eight years, Magdalena Jensen feels proud to be American. Before Barack Obama won the US presidential election, the Polish-American was quick to play up her European heritage when she met Poles. Associating herself with Poland "helped 100 per cent" when making friends. But when Jensen introduced herself as American, she was constantly asked what she thought of President George W Bush.
Now Jensen, a US journalist based in Warsaw, thinks Europeans will warm up to Americans and view them in a friendlier light. "I now hope to have instead of Bush-bashing conversations, some actual intelligent conversations," she said.
Obama's victory, driven by US voters desperate for change after the Bush years, gave the rest of the world a chance to feel good about the United States again. People across the globe sent US friends glowing congratulations. Others expressed surprise that the United States elected a black president.
Change, indeed. For most of the decade, Americans abroad were berated about "your president" and the war Bush started in Iraq. The United States' image plunged to historic lows. Diehards refused to travel to the US, citing Bush's policies. Poland was a good example on a continent that once depended on US military might to defend it against the Soviets and lapped up American culture after World War II.
Poles idolised the US as the land of freedom when Lech Walesa's Solidarity labour union, which helped bring down communism in the 1980s, printed a cowboy on its posters and made a hero of then president Ronald Reagan. With Bush's presidency, the Iraq war and the US-spawned global financial crisis, America lost much of its mystique. Americans abroad say they've felt the tension as Europeans grew unfriendly.
"I noticed a general trend that Europeans have chosen to keep a distance with Americans on a social level," said Phil Goss, an American working for Polish television. "Maybe that trend will reverse now." Europeans' widely-held belief that the US is a racist place was bolstered by last month's arrest of two Tennessee neo-Nazis who allegedly plotted to assassinate Obama.
As the first black president-elect, Obama punched a hole in that notion on Tuesday. "People had stereotypes like that about America, and it's nice to have those stereotypes slightly altered," Goss said. Not only are the stereotypes changing, but the US is becoming a country Europeans can like again.
In Paris, student Sontia Nkenkeu-Kelk, 16, was all enthusiastic. "Because of Obama's success, I now want to specialise in American affairs," she said. Others were more wary. A Serbian intellectual recalled rejoicing at Bill Clinton's election, only to see him push for Nato to bomb Belgrade in the 1999 war over Kosovo.
"If (Obama) introduces health insurance for everybody in the US, he will be one of the greatest presidents ever," he said. While the Democratic senator from Illinois is not without his critics, many agree his victory is a chance to rebuild America's standing abroad. "Obama's election will give the US a new image in the world," said Pap Ndiaye, a French historian specialising in black and US history. "It is a great stroke of communication."
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