WRAPUP 1-Obama says clearing away "wreckage" of recession

* Obama: pleased but not satisfied

* Touts progress but says "there will be setbacks"

* Rides wave of media coverage with trip, news conference

WASHINGTON, April 29 - President Barack Obama told Americans on Wednesday his administration was working to "clear away the wreckage" of recession as he assessed his first 100 days in office and promised to keep up the whirlwind pace.

"We are off to a good start. But it is just a start," Obama told a White House news conference. "I am pleased with our progress, but I am not satisfied."

Buoyed by high public approval ratings, Obama focused on the jam-packed policy agenda he has pursued since his Jan. 20 inauguration, topped by efforts to rescue the crippled economy and repair the United States' image in the world.

In just a few short months, Obama -- a Democrat elected on a promise of sweeping change -- has made a sharp break with his Republican predecessor George W. Bush on issues ranging from war and economics to healthcare and climate change.

Supporters and critics alike filled the airwaves with conflicting assessments of Obama's record so far, but most analysts said it was too early to judge whether his long list of new initiatives would yield success.

Even though the White House had dismissed the 100-day marker as a symbolic point largely of interest to the media, it staged two events -- a townhall meeting in Missouri and a prime-time televised news conference -- for Obama to rally continued public support for the challenges ahead.

Underscoring the difficulties Obama faces, new government data on Wednesday showed the economy contracted at a 6.1 percent annual rate in the first quarter, a steeper-than-expected decline.

Citing approval by the Democratic-controlled Congress of his $3.4 trillion fiscal 2010 budget shortly before his news conference, Obama insisted that his policies had put the country on the right track.

"But even as we clear away the wreckage of this recession, I have also said that we cannot go back to an economy that is built on a pile of sand," he said in his opening statement at the news conference.

Obama said his government had also renewed U.S. diplomatic efforts and cited new war strategies for Iraq and Afghanistan.

He assured Americans his administration was ready to do whatever it takes in response to a growing swine flu outbreak that has presented him with his first public health emergency.

Obama aides are mindful of the political damage to Bush over the government's inept handling of the devastating Hurricane Katrina in 2005.