About midafternoon yesterday, I remarked to someone that by that time, Barack Obama had to be pretty tired — and that was before he and the missus stayed out until 1 a.m. at the parties.
Who could have blamed him if he'd chosen to sleep in today? But that's not his style. Here's what he's done so far today:
{BC-Obama-Day One, 12th Ld-Writethru,1110}
{Obama's Day One: recession, war, ethics}
{Eds: UPDATES with Obama quote from open house; restores dropped} 'billion' in 23rd graf. Moving on general news and financial services. AP Video.
{With BC-Inauguration-Poll, BC-Guantanamo-Sept 11 Trial}
{AP Photo DCJH101, DCCD102, DCJH105, DCJH103, WHRE107, DCSA101,} WHRE108
{By JENNIFER LOVEN}=
{AP White House Correspondent}=
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a first-day flurry of activity, President Barack Obama set up shop in the Oval Office, summoned advisers to begin dealing with war and recession and ordered new ethics rules for "a clean break from business as usual."
He also froze salaries for top White House staff members, placed phone calls to Mideast leaders and had aides circulate a draft executive order that would close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay within a year.
"The way to make government responsible is to hold it accountable," Obama said as he unveiled ethics rules that he portrayed as the fulfillment of a major campaign promise. He said the action was necessary "to help restore that faith in government without which we cannot deliver the changes we were sent here to make."
Devoting swift attention to the Mideast turmoil, Obama prepared to name George Mitchell, the former Senate Democratic leader, a special envoy to the region.
In his phone calls to Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian and Jordanian leaders, Obama emphasized that he would work to consolidate the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, said the new White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs.
Gibbs said Obama expressed "his commitment to active engagement in pursuit of Arab-Israeli peace from the beginning of his term."
The enormity of Obama's challenge on the economy was evident in the mixed messages coming from Capitol Hill.
Rep. David Obey, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, expressed doubt that the currently planned $825 billion economic stimulus package would be enough, calling the proposal "no silver bullet." At the same time, House Republicans requested a meeting with Obama to air their worries that the plan was too big.
A multi-denominational prayer service at Washington National Cathedral and an open house at the presidential mansion were also on the schedule of the 44th president, taking office on a promise to fix the battered economy and withdraw U.S. troops from the unpopular war in Iraq on a 16-month timetable.
At the open house, Obama and his wife, Michelle, shook hands with a line of guests streaming through the Blue Room, some of them moved to tears by the experience.
"Enjoy yourself, roam around," a smiling Obama told one guest as he passed through the room. "Don't break anything."
The shift in administrations — former President George W. Bush was back home in Texas — was underscored in far-off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where a judge granted Obama's request to suspend the war crimes trial of a young Canadian. The judge issued a one-sentence order for the 120-day continuance without so much as a hearing, possibly the beginning of the end for the former administration's system of trials for alleged terrorists.
A draft executive order made clear the new president intends to go further. It called for closing the facility within a year, releasing some of the 245 detainees still there and transferring others to different sites for trial.
Pushing back pre-emptively, House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio said the draft order raises difficult questions.
"The key question is where do you put these terrorists?" he said. "Do you bring them inside our borders? Do you release them back into the battlefield? … Most local communities around America don't want dangerous terrorists imported into their neighborhoods, and I can't blame them."
Among Obama's executive orders:
—A freeze on salaries for White House staff earning $100,000 or more — about 100 people in all.
—New Freedom of Information Act rules, making it harder to keep the workings of government secret.
—Tighter ethics rules governing when administration officials can work on issues on which they previously lobbied governmental agencies, and banning them from lobbying the Obama administration after leaving government service.
Obama and first lady Michelle Obama sat in the first row for Wednesday's invitation-only prayer service. Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, joined them, as did former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., awaiting confirmation as secretary of state later in the day.
"Grant to Barack Obama, president of the United States, and to all in authority your grace and good will. Bless them with your heavenly gifts, give them wisdom and strength to know and to do your will," prayed the Rev. Andy Stanley, one of numerous clerics from several religions to speak.
Obama's first White House meetings as president meshed with quickened efforts in Congress to add top Cabinet officials to the roster of those confirmed on Tuesday and to advance the economic stimulus measure that is a top priority of his administration.
Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner, appearing before the Senate Finance Committee for a confirmation hearing, said enactment of the new president's economic stimulus was essential. He also said the Senate's decision last week to permit use of the second $350 billion installment of a financial industry bailout "will enable us to take the steps necessary to help get credit flowing."
He said Obama and he "share your belief that this program needs serious reform."
Geithner also apologized for his failure to pay personal taxes earlier in the decade, calling the omission a mistake. The taxes were repaid in stages, some after an IRS audit and the rest after a review of his returns late last year by Obama's transition team.
Obama and his wife arrived at the White House around 1 a.m. after attending 10 official inaugural balls.
Several hours later he walked into the most famous office in America for the first time as president.
The new White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said in a statement that Obama spent 10 minutes alone and read a note left for him by Bush that was in an envelope marked "To: 44, From: 43."
He was then joined by White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and, several minutes later, the first lady.
Wednesday's meeting with economic advisers was coming at a time when 11 million Americans are out of work and millions more feel the loss of savings and face the prospect of foreclosures on their homes.
Last week, Congress cleared the way for use of the second installment of financial-industry bailout money, a pre-inaugural victory for Obama.
Democratic leaders hope to have the $825 billion economic stimulus measure to his desk by mid-February.
The war in Iraq that he has prom
ised to end featured prominently in Obama's first day as well.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, were among those called in for the meeting as the new president assumed the role of commander in chief.
In his inaugural address on Tuesday, Obama said his goal was to "responsibly leave Iraq to its people and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan."
{Obama's Day One: recession, war, ethics}
{Eds: UPDATES with Obama quote from open house; restores dropped} 'billion' in 23rd graf. Moving on general news and financial services. AP Video.
{With BC-Inauguration-Poll, BC-Guantanamo-Sept 11 Trial}
{AP Photo DCJH101, DCCD102, DCJH105, DCJH103, WHRE107, DCSA101,} WHRE108
{By JENNIFER LOVEN}=
{AP White House Correspondent}=
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a first-day flurry of activity, President Barack Obama set up shop in the Oval Office, summoned advisers to begin dealing with war and recession and ordered new ethics rules for "a clean break from business as usual."
He also froze salaries for top White House staff members, placed phone calls to Mideast leaders and had aides circulate a draft executive order that would close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay within a year.
"The way to make government responsible is to hold it accountable," Obama said as he unveiled ethics rules that he portrayed as the fulfillment of a major campaign promise. He said the action was necessary "to help restore that faith in government without which we cannot deliver the changes we were sent here to make."
Devoting swift attention to the Mideast turmoil, Obama prepared to name George Mitchell, the former Senate Democratic leader, a special envoy to the region.
In his phone calls to Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian and Jordanian leaders, Obama emphasized that he would work to consolidate the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, said the new White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs.
Gibbs said Obama expressed "his commitment to active engagement in pursuit of Arab-Israeli peace from the beginning of his term."
The enormity of Obama's challenge on the economy was evident in the mixed messages coming from Capitol Hill.
Rep. David Obey, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, expressed doubt that the currently planned $825 billion economic stimulus package would be enough, calling the proposal "no silver bullet." At the same time, House Republicans requested a meeting with Obama to air their worries that the plan was too big.
A multi-denominational prayer service at Washington National Cathedral and an open house at the presidential mansion were also on the schedule of the 44th president, taking office on a promise to fix the battered economy and withdraw U.S. troops from the unpopular war in Iraq on a 16-month timetable.
At the open house, Obama and his wife, Michelle, shook hands with a line of guests streaming through the Blue Room, some of them moved to tears by the experience.
"Enjoy yourself, roam around," a smiling Obama told one guest as he passed through the room. "Don't break anything."
The shift in administrations — former President George W. Bush was back home in Texas — was underscored in far-off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where a judge granted Obama's request to suspend the war crimes trial of a young Canadian. The judge issued a one-sentence order for the 120-day continuance without so much as a hearing, possibly the beginning of the end for the former administration's system of trials for alleged terrorists.
A draft executive order made clear the new president intends to go further. It called for closing the facility within a year, releasing some of the 245 detainees still there and transferring others to different sites for trial.
Pushing back pre-emptively, House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio said the draft order raises difficult questions.
"The key question is where do you put these terrorists?" he said. "Do you bring them inside our borders? Do you release them back into the battlefield? … Most local communities around America don't want dangerous terrorists imported into their neighborhoods, and I can't blame them."
Among Obama's executive orders:
—A freeze on salaries for White House staff earning $100,000 or more — about 100 people in all.
—New Freedom of Information Act rules, making it harder to keep the workings of government secret.
—Tighter ethics rules governing when administration officials can work on issues on which they previously lobbied governmental agencies, and banning them from lobbying the Obama administration after leaving government service.
Obama and first lady Michelle Obama sat in the first row for Wednesday's invitation-only prayer service. Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, joined them, as did former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., awaiting confirmation as secretary of state later in the day.
"Grant to Barack Obama, president of the United States, and to all in authority your grace and good will. Bless them with your heavenly gifts, give them wisdom and strength to know and to do your will," prayed the Rev. Andy Stanley, one of numerous clerics from several religions to speak.
Obama's first White House meetings as president meshed with quickened efforts in Congress to add top Cabinet officials to the roster of those confirmed on Tuesday and to advance the economic stimulus measure that is a top priority of his administration.
Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner, appearing before the Senate Finance Committee for a confirmation hearing, said enactment of the new president's economic stimulus was essential. He also said the Senate's decision last week to permit use of the second $350 billion installment of a financial industry bailout "will enable us to take the steps necessary to help get credit flowing."
He said Obama and he "share your belief that this program needs serious reform."
Geithner also apologized for his failure to pay personal taxes earlier in the decade, calling the omission a mistake. The taxes were repaid in stages, some after an IRS audit and the rest after a review of his returns late last year by Obama's transition team.
Obama and his wife arrived at the White House around 1 a.m. after attending 10 official inaugural balls.
Several hours later he walked into the most famous office in America for the first time as president.
The new White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said in a statement that Obama spent 10 minutes alone and read a note left for him by Bush that was in an envelope marked "To: 44, From: 43."
He was then joined by White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and, several minutes later, the first lady.
Wednesday's meeting with economic advisers was coming at a time when 11 million Americans are out of work and millions more feel the loss of savings and face the prospect of foreclosures on their homes.
Last week, Congress cleared the way for use of the second installment of financial-industry bailout money, a pre-inaugural victory for Obama.
Democratic leaders hope to have the $825 billion economic stimulus measure to his desk by mid-February.
The war in Iraq that he has prom
ised to end featured prominently in Obama's first day as well.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, were among those called in for the meeting as the new president assumed the role of commander in chief.
In his inaugural address on Tuesday, Obama said his goal was to "responsibly leave Iraq to its people and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan."
If he were a cubicle worker, the guy in the next cubicle would be saying, "Pace yourself, dude; you're making the rest of us look bad." Think Jon Lovitz in "Big."
But I guess this is one of the advantages to having a young president. Just chock full o' energy.
Related Posts
And hey, did you check out the photo I used above? See, now he can use the actual presidential seal, which I suppose is very helpful in getting lots of stuff done …
$750,000,000 worth of campaign money to pay back. Lots of retribution to mete out on white taxpayers, to satisfy the angry followers.
Did you watch that morning prayer on TV?
The networks moved the cameras to the right to conceal Rev. Jeremiah Wright just behind Obama.
C-SPAN showed Rev. Wright.
Obama’s phony rejection of Jeremiah Wright didn’t last very long, just as predicted.
Obama takes oath again after inauguration mistake
By Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON, Jan 21 (Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUSN2150442720090122
WASHINGTON, Jan 21 (Reuters) – Out of “an abundance of caution,” U.S. President Barack Obama took the oath of office a second time on Wednesday at the White House because a word was out of sequence when he was sworn in on Tuesday.
Chief Justice John Roberts, who first administered the oath to Obama on Tuesday on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, administered it again to the president on Wednesday in front of reporters and a few members of the president’s staff.
—- Told you so, Brad.
Obama plagarized Bush’s speech
The Biased Media, which gave 35 times as much coverage to the Obama inauguration as they did to the Bush inauguration, gushed over Obama’s speech. McClatchy News called it the 5th best in history, after Washington, Lincoln, FDR, JFK.
The problem is, some of it was lifted straight out of President Bush’s speeches. And Bush delivered the lines just as well, or even better than Obama did.
Obama’s Inaugural Address Sounded Just Like Bush – video
http://msunderestimated.com/2009/01/21/daily-show-what-differences-between-bush-obama-video/
Posted by: Lee Muller | Jan 22, 2009 8:00:37 AM
When Lee starts linking to clips from Jon Stewart to buttress his points, then it truly is time to sing Kumbaya and say a new day has really arrived!
The facts are the facts.
The speeches are real.
The Obama plagarism is real.
The media coverup is real.
If the news media were doing their job, they wouldn’t be scooped by Jon Stewart.
Democrats Ram Through Socialized Medicine for Illegals
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/14/AR2009011403241.html
So much for “bi-partisanship”.
I’m sick to death of these liberal cabal TV watchers and their remote control Satanism.This post reminds me of why the world’s such a miserable place:NOBODY’S MAKING THEIR KIDS WATCH ROMPER ROOM!
From the article Lee just linked on “Democrats Ram Through Socialized Medicine for Illegals:”
“The House bill would provide health insurance to an additional 4.1 million children and parents, including legal immigrant children and pregnant women, who currently must wait five years before becoming eligible for the program.”
HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAhahahaha! Classic Lee…
You need to read the bill, instead of the media propaganda. My link is just to get an interested and literal person started.
The bill REMOVES the 5-year waiting period for legal immigrants to receive welfare, and REMOVES proof of citizenship. All they would need is a driver’s license. I got that from listening to the floor debate on C-SPAN radio, before Democrats cut it off.
SCHIP Bill Increases Illegal Immigrants’ Access to Medicaid
The SCHIP reauthorization bill increases opportunities for welfare fraud.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/wm1714.cfm
SCHIP invaded by illegal immigrants?
Sep 25, 2007 … “While I am a strong supporter of the SCHIP program, I simply cannot vote for a bill that flagrantly encourages illegal aliens to break our laws…
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/shared-blogs/ajc/politicalinsider/entries/2007/09/25/schip_invaded_by_illegal_immig.html
A new entitlement for illegals (SCHIP)
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070730/EDITORIAL/107300001 –
What a contrast to the 1000 day vacation tenure of the Bush administration. Obama is working for the American people and the welfare of all people in the world. The future looks very bright.
During the campaign, you socialists didn’t have the guts to list the goodies from Obama that would make you happy.
Now see if you can list the deal breakers that would make you admit Obama is failing.
Fidel Castro ‘Believes in Obama’
Wednesday, January 21, 2009 (AP)
HAVANA —
Fidel Castro watched the U.S. inauguration on television and said Wednesday that Barack Obama seems “like a man who is absolutely sincere,” Argentina’s president said after meeting with the ailing Cuban icon.
“Fidel believes in Obama,” Cristina Fernandez said.
The meeting with Fernandez, just before she ended a four-day visit to Cuba, dispelled persistent rumors that the 82-year-old Castro had suffered a stroke or lapsed into a coma in recent days.
“I was with Fidel about an hour or more,” she told reporters at the airport as she left. “We were chatting, conversing. He looked good.”
Hours later, Castro issued his own account of the meeting in a brief essay that called Obama “honest” in his ideas.
Fernandez said Castro wore the track suit that has become his trademark since he fell ill in July 2006 and vanished from public view. A spokesman said the two met alone.
“He told me he had followed the inauguration of Barack Obama very closely, that he had watched the inauguration on television all day,” Fernandez said. “He had a very good perception of President Obama.”
Fernandez said Castro called Obama “a man who seems absolutely sincere,” who believes strongly in his ideas “and who hopefully can carry them out.”
Posted on a government Web site, Castro’s essay was his first such writing since Dec. 15. The ailing leader’s lengthy silence had fueled speculation his health had taken a turn for the worse.
——————-
I wonder if ACORN got an absentee ballot for Fidel Castro.
It’s time to end our quarantine of Cuba. That’s a vestige of the cold war that needs to come to an end. Other changes I’d like to see:
1. The legalization of all recreational drugs.
2. Withdrawal of all troops from abroad, including Germany, Japan and especially Iraq.
3. Normalization of relations with Iran.
4. Single payer health care.
5. Abolition of the USA-Patriot Act.
6. Elimination of tax breaks for companies who outsource major parts of their operation abroad. That includes the State Newspaper.
7. Abolition of all Blue Laws.
8. Reduction of the military by 50%.
That’s a good list bud. I would add:
1. Term limits for congress
2. A balanced budget amendment
I would also like to see a health plan — if there’s going to be one — enacted at the state level, if feasible, instead of federal to make sure that it is properly paid for by the people enjoying its benefits. It’s hard to trust an organization that has the history of and the power to take huge benefits up front while passing the expense down the line through borrowing copious amounts of money. Also other states could guage its effectiveness and decide if it’s worth it.
Also on point 6, I’d rather see a more proactive approach to creating jobs than to punish people for doing what’s in the best interest of their businesses.
With fraud consuming 31% of Medicare, it is pretty obvious neither the federal government nor the states are capable or managing medical care.
Since all the cost increases in medical care are in the managed sectors, the obvious way to reduce costs is to get government out of all medical care.
Mr. Barlow,
Did you read those articles about SCHIP being opened up to more abuse, fraud, and corruption?
What do you think?
Obama’s first phone call was to the PLO.
Lee,
I read a couple of them. I think questioning the weakened documentation standards is reasonable. I have no clue whether or not this will have a material effect on the program. But frankly, abuse, fraud and corruption in a federal program in this country unfortunately shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone in this country.
We can be certain that the INTENT of the weakened documentation requirement for SCHIP is to permit more illegal aliens to fraudulently collect benefits.
That would attract even more welfare-consuming illegals across the Mexican border, prior to the Democrats’ wholesale granting of amnesty and instant citizenship to these criminals, and welcoming them into the Democratic Party voting base.
Just as his critics predicted, Mr. Obama is veering hard to the left:
* First call to PLO, then Hamas.
* Order to close GITMO (in a year). No plans yet on how to handle it.
* Stopped trials of 9/11 hijackers.
* Offer negotiations to Iran on how they can have a nuclear program.
* Millions of dollars to private groups to lobby for and perform abortions in foreign countries.
* Encouraging states to come up with chaotic tangle of vehicle emissions laws, so feds can step in later and “standardize” on the silliest and most repressive.
* Encourage unions to not yield on wage hikes. Result is more closing of production and shipping facilities.
* Trial balloons of open relations with communist Cuba.
* Trial balloons of legalizing marijuana, or at least stopping enforcement.
* Free medical care for illegals under SCHIP expansion by dropping proof of ID and citizenship.
* Tells GOP he doesn’t need them to ram through $850 BILLION in pork spending under guise of an ” urgent Stimulus Package”, which only spends 25% of it this year.
Obama is very busy because he has to maintain the nation know…….,,,,,
Christena
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