-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- In style and substance , Barack Obama is looking like he could be a different president than the candidate voters got to know during the campaign . Barack Obama has taken on a more somber tone as he prepares to take office . His message of changing the country has been replaced by one of repairing the country as he inherits crises that demand immediate action . `` I want to be realistic here , '' Obama said in an interview that aired Sunday on ABC 's `` This Week . '' `` Not everything that we talked about during the campaign are we going to be able to do on the pace that we had hoped . '' During the campaign , Obama stressed fixing the economy as one of his top priorities , but his recent language has taken on an urgent tone . Obama painted a dire picture of the economy last week , warning that if Congress does not take `` dramatic action '' on his economic aid package as soon as possible , the nation would face devastating long-term consequences . `` For every day we wait or point fingers or drag our feet , more Americans will lose their jobs . More families will lose their savings . More dreams will be deferred and denied . And our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that , at some point , we may not be able to reverse , '' he said . It 's a far cry from what voters heard from Obama the Democratic candidate , who inspired roaring crowds of thousands by telling them , `` This is our moment . This is our time . '' But with the economy in a recession and people afraid for their financial future , Obama 's soaring campaign rhetoric has given way to grim reality . And as if the economic crisis were n't enough , Obama has an international crisis awaiting him as well . The president-elect said Sunday that the suffering on both sides of Gaza 's borders has led him to ramp up his commitment to working for a peace deal in the Middle East . These urgent items on Obama 's agenda are forcing his team to reconsider some campaign pledges . Just as soon as he went from presidential hopeful to president-elect , Obama warned the nation of tough times ahead and lowered expectations that he would be the one to solve it all . Watch more on the expectations for Obama '' `` We know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime -- two wars , a planet in peril , the worst financial crisis in a century , '' he said on the night of his election victory . `` The road ahead will be long . Our climb will be steep . We may not get there in one year or even in one term . But , America , I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there , '' he said . He told voters that change could n't happen without them , `` without a new spirit of service , a new spirit of sacrifice . '' He reiterated that same message this weekend , explaining what it 's going to take to reform the government . `` Everybody is going to have to give . Everybody is going to have to have some skin in the game , '' Obama told ABC . iReport.com : What should Obama do first ? Some of the pledges Obama might have to rethink include his proposal to give some homeowners a 10 percent tax credit , an idea that has little support in Congress . During the campaign , Obama also told voters , `` I do n't believe in running up debt for the next generation . '' But just last week , he acknowledged that the cost of the economic recovery plan he is pushing would be `` considerable '' and would `` certainly add to the budget deficit in the short term . '' Obama has not put a price tag on his stimulus package , but observers have estimated it would cost in the neighborhood of $ 800 billion . Obama also has proposed repealing the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy , but now it 's more likely that the president-elect will delay any tax increases on the wealthy until 2011 , when the tax cuts expire . Some of the maneuvering is aimed at attracting Republican support for the incoming president 's recovery plan , but that could set up an early battle in the now heavily Democratic Congress . House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , for example , is adamant about seeing those tax cuts repealed . iReport.com : What does Obama 's presidency mean to you ? Obama says everyone will have to sacrifice , and that includes Congress , too . Some political observers say the economic crisis that Obama is inheriting is raising the stakes to get a move on his recovery plan -- even if Congress is n't 100 percent behind it . `` This strengthens Barack Obama 's hand with the Congress and with the public . It 's so urgent , that it 's going to be very , very hard , I think , for people who do n't like parts of this package to vote against it , '' said David Gergen , CNN 's senior political analyst . And while the public is well aware of the economic battle ahead , Republican strategist and CNN contributor Ed Rollins said Obama has little time to wait . `` You 've got to have results , '' Rollins said , `` He does n't have four years to get it done . He has two years . If there 's not improvements dramatically in two years , you have a midterm election , and certainly by the second part of this first term , this economy better be moving . '' CNN 's Jim Acosta , Kristi Keck and Christine Romans contributed to this report