WASHINGTON (CNN) - Organizers of the 56th Presidential Inauguration are warning consumers to be skeptical of tickets being offered for sale online to President-Elect Barack Obama's swearing-in ceremony.
With 73 days to go, tickets are already appearing on the Internet with a hefty price tag. On eBay, 18 bidders have driven up one pair to more than $1,000. One Web site, Inauguraltickets.com, is inviting members of the public to place orders, warning "Our prices will reflect the difficulty in obtaining" tickets. Another site, Dreamtix, is offering a variety of seats ranging from $1,400 to $21,000 a pop.
Watch: Inaugural tickets already for sale on the Web
Carole Florman, Communications Director for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, says "anyone claiming to have tickets to sell right now, or saying that they will guarantee tickets, is not telling the truth." Florman told CNN the 240,000 free tickets to the swearing-in ceremony are currently in a "secure location" and will not be handed out until a few days before. Tickets to the Inaugural Parade and official balls will be handled by a Presidential Inaugural Committee, which has yet to be formed.
The inaugural committee Web site advises members of the public wishing to attend to contact their members of Congress or U.S. Senator and ask to be put on the list for tickets.
An employee answering the phone at Dreamtix.com would give no comment to CNN about their tickets on offer. Karl Roes, the owner of Inauguraltickets.com, told CNN the site buys and sells tickets on the "secondary market" and, while they are taking orders, "we are not claiming we have tickets" at this time.
(CNN) - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has made "no commitment" to plans for a missile defense program in eastern Europe, despite a report on Polish president's Web site, an Obama adviser said Saturday.
Obama spoke to President Lech Kaczynki over the phone about continuing military and political cooperation between the two countries and possibly meeting in person soon, both sides said.
"President-elect had a good conversation with the Polish president and the Polish prime minister about the important U.S.-Poland alliance," said Denis McDonough, Obama's senior foreign policy adviser.
However, Kaczynski's office on its Web site says that during the same conversation, Obama told Kaczynski that he intends to continue plans for a missile shield in eastern Europe.
Obama's adviser denied the report.
"President Kaczynski raised missile defense, but President-elect Obama made no commitment on it. His position is as it was throughout the campaign: That he supports deploying a missile defense system when the technology is proved to be workable," McDonough said.
Russia is infuriated by U.S. plans for the missile-defense installation, which includes basing missile interceptors in Poland. The interceptor rockets would be linked to an air-defense radar system in the Czech Republic.
(CNN) - President-elect Barack Obama reiterated a call for fast action on the economy during the weekly Democratic radio address Saturday.
A day after stressing the economy in his first news conference since winning the presidency, Obama picked up the theme in the radio address.
Noting that nearly 1.2 million Americans have lost their jobs this year - including 240,000 in October - the president-elect said that "their stories are an urgent reminder that we are facing the greatest economic challenge of our lifetime, and we must act swiftly to resolve them."
STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images
CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN)– For President-elect Barack Obama, there are four transitions going on at once.
If you listened closely, you could hear each of them touched upon at his press conference here as the week ended.
The first transition is the traditional one– the changeover from an old administration to a new one.
“Now, the United States has only one government and one president at a time,” Obama said to the gathered reporters. “And until January 20th of next year, that government is the current administration. I have spoken to President Bush. . . .”
But it is the other three transitions– the ones specific to Obama– that carry the most potential fascination.
There is the transition from Obama, the candidate whom the world had gotten to know during the campaign, to Obama, the man who will be president of the United States.
The same human being fills both roles. But there is– there has to be– at least the slightest tonal difference.
His Nancy Reagan/séance comment at the news conference is the example everyone is talking about this weekend. Had Obama the candidate said the same words, those words might have floated into the air and quickly evaporated. But when the 44th president of the United States says them. . . Well. You saw.
Yet there were less dramatic, but equally telling, instances of this. As Obama began the news conference, he said:
“This morning we woke up to more sobering news about the state of our economy.”
It was the “we” that made the difference.
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) - Iran's parliament speaker has criticized U.S. President-elect Barack Obama for saying that Iran's development of a nuclear weapon is unacceptable.
Ali Larijani said on Saturday Obama should apply his campaign message of change to U.S. dealings with Iran.
"Obama must know that the change that he talks about is not simply a superficial changing of colors or tactics," Larijani said in comments carried by the semi-official Mehr News Agency.
"What is expected is a change in strategy, not the repetition of objections to Iran's nuclear program which will be taking a step in the wrong direction."
In his first post-election news conference Friday afternoon, Obama reiterated that he believes a nuclear-armed Iran would be "unacceptable." He also said he would help mount an international effort to prevent it from happening.
Larijani said U.S. behavior toward Iran "will not change so simply," but that Obama's election showed internal conditions in the United States have shifted.
(CNN) - When David Kronmiller wakes up and sits down at his computer in the morning, he usually checks the Huffington Post, the Drudge Report, Politico and the polls on RealClearPolitics. But the day after the election, he realized he didn't need to check those polls. There weren't any.
"There is some sadness to that," said Kronmiller, a North Hollywood, California, resident who frequently contributes his views to iReport.com.
Although he supported President-elect Barack Obama since the primaries, the end of the presidential election means he won't have a race to follow anymore.
"I expect serious withdrawal, like, tonight or tomorrow," he said Wednesday.
After two intense years of campaign ups and downs for both major U.S. political parties, the nation has finally settled on a president. Although initially, Obama's victory brings celebrations for supporters, experts say the let-down that voters of each side may feel after the campaign is akin to postpartum depression.
From CNN Politics
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