By ADAM NAGOURNEY and JIM RUTENBERG


WASHINGTON - In the weeks before he was to take office, Presidentelect Barack Obama was everywhere: on television talk shows, on radio and YouTube, on Capitol Hill, drawing on the techniques he employed during the campaign and lessons from predecessors as he sought to shape public attitudes about the economic downturn.

His aides said Mr.Obama had studied the way Franklin D.Roosevelt approached the first 100 days of his presidency, and in particular had seized on the notion of Roosevelt having a“conversation with the American public”to try to prepare it for a difficult time. He has, aides said, even looked at the words Roosevelt used and the tone he struck.

Mr.Obama has sought to strike a balance: emphasizing the depth of the problem, to create a sense of political urgency for Congress to act quickly, while not being so pessimistic that he could further destabilize the jittery financial markets or deplete the sense of energy and hope accompanying his election.

Yet even as the president-elect looked to the past, he and his team were mobilizing to use the most up- to-date techniques to communicate with the public and rally support.

His aides said they would begin sending to supporters and posting on You- Tube videotapes of economic experts in the administration - like Lawrence H.Summers, who will be director of the National Economic Council - talking in detail about Mr.Obama’s economic proposals.

Mr.Obama’s aides said they were keenly aware of how President Bush, in their view, had failed to effectively explain the bailout plans he sanctioned last year or how they would benefit ordinary people, and as a result saw public opinion turn quickly against them.

They said that through the end of January, Mr.Obama would pack his schedule with interviews, speeches, news conferences and limited travel to try to rally public support behind the effort.

Mr.Obama can no doubt count on some patience from Americans, but if history is any guide, he will fairly quickly be held accountable for whether his remedies result in tangible improvements. And in the meantime, he will face the need to manage expectations without stepping into negativity.

There is little doubt that Mr.Obama can get Congress to pass a stimulus bill. The question is whether he can create one that can draw enough Republican votes to give the parties shared ownership of a plan, providing a basis for cooperation on other big issues, like health care and global warming - and reducing the partisan recriminations should the plan fail to live up to its promise.

But Mr.Obama’s team will still be able to call on Washington’s partisan political machinery if necessary.

Brad Woodhouse, who was a senior Democratic Party strategist in the presidential campaign, has assembled a group of 25 organizations - including unions like the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and grass-roots groups like MoveOn.org and Acorn - to build public and Congressional support for Mr.Obama’s economic package.

Mr.Woodhouse said the group was in the process of raising money for television advertisements that would pressure local lawmakers to support the plan. He said he had consulted with several of Mr.Obama’s senior strategists.

“We’re doing this with the notion,”Mr.Woodhouse said,“that if we can help in any way, even at the margins, to make this any easier on Obama, it will preserve some of his political capital.”