Obama address on economy set

President-elect Barack Obama's office just announced the details of his major speech Thursday on the economy.

It will be at 11 a.m. George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., just outside Washington, D.C.

"He will make the case for urgent action on an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that will save or create over 3 million jobs while investing in priorities like health care, energy, and education that will jumpstart economic growth," his office said. "This plan will represent not just new policy, but a new approach to meeting our challenges that focuses on responsibility, accountability, and transparency so that we can rebuild confidence and trust in our economy and our markets."

Obama is taking his appeal directly to the public after lobbying on Capitol Hill on Monday for his stimulus plan, expected to reach $775 billion over two years.

On the eve of the speech, Obama says in an interview airing tonight on CNBC that he is being careful about being too dire in his economic pronouncements.

"Right now, given the sensitivities of the market, I've got to pay some attention to market psychology, because part of what we have right now is such a loss of trust in both the marketplace and in government that restoring that confidence, restoring that trust is going to be very important," he said, in excerpts released by CNBC.

He also said he rarely reads good press about himself, but reads bad press. "I think it's important not to live in the bubble, so you've got to be open to outside information, particularly criticism," he said.

"And overall, though, one thing I'm pretty clear about is that as president I've got to be looking out at the horizon," he added. "I can't be looking at today's headlines, because if I do then I'm probably not going to make decisions based on what's best for the country. I'm going to be spending a lot of time worrying about day-to-day politics, and that's something that I've been trying to block out."

UPDATE: Obama also plans a press conference Thursday afternoon with Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, a key early supporter who is expected to be announced as the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee, succeeding former Governor Howard Dean of Vermont.