The bigger controversy from his answer was that he almost blew Santa Claus's cover. Foretunately, he caught himself, and said he and Michelle would also be buying presents for the kids.

Let's state it one more time - how refreshing it will be to have responsible adults again running the White House, after the last eight years of immature antics by Bush & Co.

Bush provided lots of shopping advice.

Enough with the shopping obsession already.

how refreshing it will be to have responsible adults again running the White House

I found myself raptly watching the first few press conferences, despite the fact that they were mostly boilerplate, because for the first time in years we have a chief executive who doesn't radiate "blithering idiot."

"Do you -- do you have any shopping advice for nervous consumers? And are you planning to hit the malls yourself on Friday?

OBAMA: Well, we are going to do some -- some Christmas shopping. And Malia and Sasha have already put their list together. It's mostly for Santa. They send their letter every year. But -- but we may do some extra shopping as well."

I think bet mother in America just fell in love.

Eh, nuts. I meant to write "I bet every mother in America just fell in love."

About Obama's goal of creating 2.5 million new jobs in 2 years, is that the goal for total job creation or for jobs above normal growth? The economy needs 150,000 new jobs a month to keep up with increases in the labor force, or 1.8 million a year. If 2.5 million in 2 years is the total goal, then Obama isn't even hoping to stay even.

I think it would have been a good chance to also suggest what Hilzoy broached--perhaps those of us fortunate enough with some discretionary income might want to give to others: charities, food banks and the like.

I didn't hear a: "shop responsibly" message there, frankly..

It was a good response over-all nonetheless, and very cute about the letter to Santa. It kind of miffed me a bit when the journalist who followed was a bet sour/ sarcastic about that: "Santa Claus list aside...". But he handled that questioner well, IMO.

No plug for 99¢ stores?

A message for those in need would have been nice.

"Help is on the way".

Regular political pandering. There's not much Obama can do - the accelerated purchases that credit cards, cheap loans for cars and homes, and home equity financing represent, mean that in former years, we felt richer. More stuff, more jobs, higher incomes (than in an alternate, less credit scenario).

Now we will feel poorer than before. We are still rich. Aside from complaining that the top 1%-5% have captured all the growth and productivity improvements for the past 8 years (and less so, for the past 35 years), there's not much to do.

Obama could give everyone 10k to shop with, give everyone 200k to pay off the difference between what they can afford on their house and what the loan amount still requires, and bail out all the failing businesses from the delayed structural adjustment that we've been due. THAT might help. Short of that, there's a long term stagnation in the future.

Still, compared to 80% of the rest of the world, we got it good and easy.

susan, @13:32 and grinning cat, @14:02

He has another chance to pitch *that* message -- in his weekly radio/video addresses. I'm not sure how appropriate it would have been here where, as Benen says, he had to thread the needle carefully and trying to be both upbeat and somber without being depressing.

Another way he (and other Dems) could make the appeal is through their mailing lists of supporters. Last year, around Christmastime, I got
a message from, I think, Durbin, saying that, this time, he wasn't asking for money for himself but, would I please send a donation to Doctors Without Borders as his Christmas gift. And, the other day, I got an e-mail note from the guy who ran for Congress (and lost) from our district saying ignore the "donate" button but, please, either volunteer at, or donate to, the local food banks (contact info for those provided in the note).

There are ways of helping, if one cares, and they don't, necessarily, have to be rolled out in the full glare of a press conference.

damn. i almost tear up just reading his lucid comments.

Can you imagine we live in a world where "buy only what you can afford" is considered shocking, even revolutionary advice? My grandfather, who maintained a Depression Era mentality toward money and banks for his whole life, must be beating at the door of his crypt.

Obama:

"But we continue to have the best workers in the world, we continue to have the most innovation in the world, we continue to be in possession of extraordinary resources that if we harness properly will get this economy moving over the next couple of years, but also over the next two decades or three decades."

In other words: the fundamentals of our economy are strong!

No, good for Obama. I just felt like a little snark.

I heard this press confrence live. And Obama's answer to this question really affected me. What a wonderous thing to have young children in the White House! When Obama mentioned Santa Claus, a wave of childhood memories washed over me. What does that have to do with the economy and the larger political context? Nothing...except that I feel even more connected to Barack Obama than ever before.

I think the Santa Claus letter comment was yet another indication of what a sophisticated man Obama is. He clearly knows how to warm a crowd and inject just enough wit--and think on his feet. I think this is gift--I see an ability to connect and communicate which is so utterly refreshing. He is sober, alert, compassionate and engaged. And what a gifted speaker. It's why he won, IMO. And why I dare say, he will prove to be a transformational leader in years to come.