And now a message from the President-elect

President-elect Barack Obama became the first U.S. President-elect to deliver his weekly address by video on Saturday in remarks where he called for "a new spirit of service and sacrifice" in America.

Employing some of the same new technology that helped him win election, the president-elect's staff recorded a three and a half minute video of Obama and posted it on the official transition web site, change.gov, and on YouTube.

The transition said it was the first time that the weekly Democratic address has been released as a web video, although the messages will continue to be aired on the radio as well. The president-elect will also publish weekly updates throughout the transition and continue the practice after he takes office.

For Saturday's address, Obama was shown in a familiar presidential setting, seated in a leather chair next to an American flag. The president-elect also wore a flag pin of his own on his left lapel and was flanked by a row of books on his right and what appeared to be an autographed basketball on his left. (Obama's brother-in-law, Oregon State University basketball coach Craig Robinson, visited the Illinois senator's D.C. office on Thursday with the Beavers basketball squad, but there's no indication in the video where the ball came from.)

The video address was released as the leaders of the G-20 countries met in Washington for a global economic summit. Obama did not attend the meeting but did send former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Republican Congressman Jim Leach on his behalf. And despite his physical absence, the G-20 meeting was on his mind when he recorded the weekly address.

Obama praised President Bush for initiating this process and seeking "a coordinated global response," but he also warned that the U.S. must "act immediately here at home to address America's own economic crisis."

Calling the financial crisis "the greatest economic challenge of our time," the president-elect tried to balance optimism with realism in his message. He said "the road ahead will be long, and the work will be hard," but, he added, "I know that we can steer ourselves out of this crisis -- because here in America we always rise to the moment, no matter how hard."

Obama, who officially resigns from his Senate seat on Sunday, called on Congress next week to pass what he called "at least a down-payment on a rescue plan" that includes an extension of unemployment benefits for 1 million Americans who will have exhausted their unemployment insurance by the end of this year.

"If Congress does not pass an immediate plan that gives the economy the boost it needs, I will make it my first order of business as President," he said.

Obama also called for long-term investments in infrastructure, including rebuilding our crumbling roads, bridges, and schools that he said would put that 2 million Americans to work. And he called for investing $150 billion to build "an American green energy economy" that he said would create 5 million new jobs "while freeing our nation from the tyranny of foreign oil, and saving our planet for our children."