Obama says Shinseki to be VA secretary

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- U.S. President-elect Barack Obama said in remarks aired Sunday he will tap Gen. Eric Shinseki to lead the Veterans Administration.

"He has agreed that he is willing to be part of this administration because both he and I share a reverence for those who serve," Obama said in an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" program, noting Shinseki fought in Vietnam and Bosnia.

On the sputtering U.S. economy, Obama said Americans could be in store for some tough times.

"If you look at the unemployment numbers that came out (Friday), if you think about almost 2 million jobs lost, so far; if you think about the fragility of the financial system and the fact that it is now a global financial system," he said. "When you think about the structural problems that we already had in the economy before the financial crisis, this is a big problem, and it's going to get worse."