'New beginning' promised in Thanksgiving address

28 Nov 2008, 7:32 am   -   Source: AFP
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US President-elect Barack Obama has promised Americans of a brighter future ahead, during his Thanksgiving address.

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President-elect Barack Obama has promised "a new beginning" when he takes over the White House in January and urged Americans to work together to overcome a deepening economic crisis.

"This weekend -- with one heart, and one voice, the American people can give thanks that a new and brighter day is yet to come," Obama said in the weekly Democratic radio address, usually delivered Saturday but released early for the Thanksgiving holiday.

His political hero, president Abraham Lincoln, established the holiday "in one of the darkest years of our nation's history," 1863, during the US Civil
War, Obama said.

"This Thanksgiving also takes place at a time of great trial for our people," Obama said.

"We face an economic crisis of historic proportions."

"That's why I am committed to forging a new beginning from the moment I take office as president of the United States," the president-elect said.

Earlier this week Obama unveiled his economic team, including Timothy Geithner as Treasury secretary and Larry Summers as chairman of the White House
National Economic Council, and touted his plan to create 2.5 million jobs through a vast infrastructure spending program.

"But this Thanksgiving we are reminded that the renewal of our economy won't come from policies and plans alone -- it will take the hard work,innovation, service and strength of the American people," Obama said.

"Times are tough. There are difficult months ahead. But we can renew our nation the same way that we have in the many years since Lincoln's first Thanksgiving: by coming together to overcome adversity; by reaching for - and working for - new horizons of opportunity for all Americans."

American families gather on the fourth Thursday in November for a festive dinner of turkey, potatoes and pie, seen as commemorating the first harvest
feast of English pilgrims in the new world in 1621.

Obama spent Thanksgiving at home in Chicago with his wife, his two daughters, and dozens of relatives, Michelle Obama revealed Wednesday in a
interview with ABC.

"We're going to have at least 60 people at our house, like we do every year," she said.

This year, she has excused herself from cooking, she said.

"This is the one year, don't you think -- my husband ran for president -- that I should have an out on cooking something for Thanksgiving," the
first-lady-in-waiting said.

Both Obama and the current president, George W. Bush, were closely following events in Mumbai, where Islamic militants killed 125 people across the city and grabbed foreign guests in two luxury hotels.

The State Department said three Americans were injured in the attacks while Bush expressed condolences over the attacks and offered US assistance to
India.

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