NBC News and News Services
Updated 2:59 pm. CT, Wed., Jan. 21, 2009
WASHINGTON - In a first-day flurry of activity, President Barack Obama on Wednesday set up shop in the Oval Office, summoned advisers to begin dealing with war and recession and ordered new lobbying 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.
Devoting swift attention to the Mideast turmoil, Obama prepared to give George Mitchell, the former Senate Democratic leader, a top diplomatic post for the region.
Unveiling ethics rules that he portrayed as the fulfillment of a major campaign promise, Obama said that “the way to make government responsible is to hold it accountable.” The rules are needed, he added, “to help restore faith in government, without which we cannot deliver the changes that we were sent here to make.”
The pay freeze affects the roughly 100 White House employees who make more than $100,000 a year. “Families are tightening their belts, and so should Washington,” Obama said.
Stevens note:
I would not only freeze Congress’ pay but reduce it to a point that might wake them to the real world way of life they have created in this country. I’m thinking 120 thousand a year that’s still more than the minimum wage they impose on the rest of the country.
Obama’s new lobbying rules will ban aides from trying to influence the administration when they leave his staff. Those already hired will be banned from working on matters they have previously lobbied on, or to approach agencies that they once targeted.
The rules also ban lobbyists from giving gifts of any size to any member of his administration. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the ban would include the traditional “previous relationships” clause, allowing gifts from friends or associates with which an employee comes in with strong ties.
Stevens note:
If that statement doesn’t imply that your government has been bought off in the past, it sure sounds that way.
The new rules also stipulate that anyone who leaves his administration cannot try to influence former friends and colleagues for at least two years. Obama is requiring all staff to attend to an ethics briefing like one he said he attended last week.
Stevens note:
Our government could sure use a full course in ethics, they don’t have a clue about ethics.
Obama called the rules tighter “than under any other administration in history.” They followed pledges during his campaign to be strict about the influence of lobbyists in his White House.
“The new rules on lobbying alone, no matter how tough, are not enough to fix a broken system in Washington,” he said. “That’s why I’m also setting rules that govern not just lobbyists but all those who have been selected to serve in my administration.”
Stevens note:
Lobbyist have no business in Washington period they are the people that bought your Congressmen in the past.
‘Too much secrecy’
In an attempt to deliver on pledges of a transparent government, Obama said he would change the way the federal government interprets the Freedom of Information Act. He said he was directing agencies that vet requests for information to err on the side of making information public — not to look for reasons to legally withhold it — an alteration to the traditional standard of evaluation.
Stevens note:
Where their weather manipulation program is concerned the only reason for secrecy is deception.
Just because a government agency has the legal power to keep information private does not mean that it should, Obama said. Reporters and public-interest groups often make use of the law to explore how and why government decisions were made; they are often stymied as agencies claim legal exemptions to the law.
Stevens note:
No government agency is exempt to the Law, they are actually bound by it.
“For a long time now, there’s been too much secrecy in this city,” Obama said.
He said the orders he was issuing Wednesday will not “make government as honest and transparent as it needs to be” nor go as far as he would like.
Stevens note:
Exactly, we the people should remind them, they are accountable to The Law.
“But these historic measures do mark the beginning of a new era of openness in our country,” Obama said. “And I will, I hope, do something to make government trustworthy in the eyes of the American people, in the days and weeks, months and years to come.”
Stevens note:
I don’t trust any of them. They can’t be trusted. Absolute power leads to absolute corruption and they are living proof.
Mideast diplomacy
Earlier Wednesday, the president called the leaders of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt and Jordan following the Israeli military assault on Gaza.
“He used this opportunity on his first day in office to communicate his commitment to active engagement in pursuit of Arab-Israeli peace from the beginning of his term, and to express his hope for their continued cooperation and leadership,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement.
Stevens note:
As long as the United State quits helping Israel steal land and freedom from Palestine and get our military out of that country. The terrorist that hijacked the White House is gone now, there is no reason to be there.
“In the aftermath of the Gaza conflict,” Gibbs added, the president “emphasized his determination to work to help consolidate the cease-fire by establishing an effective anti-smuggling regime to prevent Hamas from rearming, and facilitating in partnership with the Palestinian Authority a major reconstruction effort for Palestinians in Gaza.”
Also Wednesday, Obama and the first lady, Michelle Obama, attended the prayer service at the National Cathedral. Joining them there were Biden and his wife, Jill. Former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Secretary of State-nominee Hillary Clinton, were also in the front row with the first family.
Pushing his economic plan
Obama began his morning with meetings with his top economic advisers, which 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.
Stevens note:
Get the counterfeit money out of our economy and the problems will solve itself. There is no sense in bailing out the counterfeiters.
For those that don’t know Banks are the counterfeiters.
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.”
Stevens note:
At least silver bullets would be legal tender in this country
Is Rep. Obey going to pay back the counterfeit stimulus?
At the same time, House Republicans requested a meeting with Obama to air their worries that the plan was too big.
Poll finds optimism
A new poll underscored the sense of anticipation that accompanied Obama into office.
The Associated Press-Knowledge Networks survey found that by a 3-1 margin, people feel more optimistic about the country’s future now that Obama has been inaugurated, including 30 percent of Republicans.
Stevens note:
I’m sure hoping Obama isn’t just another liar.
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.
Press secretary Gibbs said in a statement that Obama spent 10 minutes alone and read a note left for him by former President George W. Bush that was in an envelope marked “To: .44, From: .43.”
Stevens note:
It should have been marked 0 to 43 George Bush was never an elected official, he just hijacked the White House.
The war in Iraq that he has promised to end featured prominently in Obama’s first day as well.
and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, were among those called in for a meeting later Wednesday as the new president assumed the role of commander in chief.
Stevens note:
Someone should ask Defense Secretary Robert Gates how killing unarmed Taliban prisoners of war is helping America, they had already surrendered
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.”
The two unfinished wars are twinned for Obama. He has promised to bring U.S. combat troops out of Iraq within 16 months of taking office, as long as doing so wouldn’t endanger either the Americans left behind for training and terrorism-fighting nor the security gains in Iraq. And he has said he would use that drawdown to bolster the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, where U.S.-backed fighters are losing ground against a resurgent Taliban.
Stevens note:
They have been at war over there for 2000 years, most people want peace, its governments that strive for war.
Within hours of Obama’s taking the oath of office on Tuesday, Emanuel ordered all federal agencies to put the brakes on any pending regulations that the Bush administration sought to push through in its final days.
Stevens note:
George didn’t have the authority in the first place, I hope Obama is going to hold him and everyone in his administration accountable to the Law they ignored in the first place.
“The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us bind the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.”
Thomas Jefferson
“The people are the masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it”
- Abraham Lincoln
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