as Iraq's prime minister-designate is a "promising step forward".
He acknowledged that Iraq had been through "difficult days", and urged
its political leaders to work together.
Earlier on Monday, Iraq's president asked Abadi to form a new
government, snubbing the incumbent Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.
Maliki said Abadi's nomination was a "violation of the constitution".
Speaking from his holiday retreat in Martha's Vineyard, Obama said US
forces had successfully carried out air strikes to prevent the advance
of Islamist militants in northern Iraq.
But Obama said there was no American military solution to the crisis -
and that only an inclusive Iraqi government could unify the fight
against the Islamists.
Militants from the Islamic State group have made substantial gains in
northern Iraq in recent months, forcing tens of thousands of people
from religious minorities to flee their homes.
As well as the air strikes, the US has conducted air drops of
essential supplies to Yazidi people stuck on a mountain range.
Over the last four nights, US and UK air crews have flown 14
successful missions, air dropping more than 310 bundles of food, water
and medical supplies, and delivering almost 16,000 gallons of water
and 75,000 meals, the US government says.
The US has also begun supplying weapons to the Kurdish Peshmergas, who
are fighting the militants, senior US officials have told the
Associated Press.
President Obama said Iraq's new leadership "has a difficult task to
regain the confidence of its citizens by governing inclusively and
taking steps to demonstrate its resolve."
He urged Abadi to form a cabinet that represents all of Iraq's ethnic
and sectarian communities, and said mobilising US and international
support would be easier once that happens.
The US has been reluctant to provide such help while the government
was led by Maliki, a Shia seen by many as fuelling ethnic and
sectarian tensions that boosted support for the Sunni militants, the
BBC's Barbara Plett reports from Washington.
Abadi's nomination has also been welcomed by the presidents of France
and Turkey, but not by the incumbent Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.
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