First Full Day in Office for President Obama
Thursday, January 22, 2009
The first full day as acting President of the United States, President Obama had a full day of activities.
First, President Obama signed executive orders creating ethics guidelines for the staff members of his administration. "Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency," Obama said.
Second, the President restated his 'oath of office' at the White house, without the Lincoln bible that he used at the inaugural ceremony.
Third, the President issued a pay freeze for his senior staff members.
Forth, the President promised swift action on the economy. The Democrats have already signed the $825 billion economic recovery package, but the Republicans will stall, as they will want major changes to the bill before they agree on the plan.
According to Republicans in a letter to the President, "The challenge as we see it is to create a plan that helps middle-class taxpayers and small businesses without wasting money or exploding our national deficit,"
Apparently one of the other issues includes the idea that the main tax provision of cutting payroll taxes did not help fix the economy in a way that people expect that the plan would. It appears that the plan will have to change substantially before the economic plan would gain any major Republican support. So right out of the gate, the new President is faced with a big challenge. His presidency can be judged by the success or failure of his economic plan. The beginning of his 'first 100 days' have begun and he will be closely scrutinized on his actions and successes, along with his failures to act and failures on policies deemed important to the American people.
Fifth, the new president is drafting an executive order that will call for the closing of Guantanamo Bay detention facility. It is rumored that the facility will be closed within the year.
With his first day in the Oval Office, Obama spent his first 10 minutes there in privacy, and he read the note in a sealed envelope from President bush that was setting on the oval office desk. The note has become a tradition from the outgoing President to the incoming President.
Sixth, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel met with the President 10 minutes later to discuss his daily schedule.
Seventh, "President Obama called Middle East leaders, including King Abdullah of Jordan, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak," Gibbs said.
Eighth, the First Lady Michelle Obama met with Barack at 9:10AM prior to departing for the National Prayer Service at Washington National Cathedral.
Ninth, the Obama's invited people in a formal open house of the White House.
Tenth, Obama and the economic team with Pentagon officials.
Eleventh, Obama met with the Ambassador to Iraq, the commander in Iraq and what is known as the "theater commander" in the region for an update on the situation in Iraq, according to a CNN report. As anticipated from statements made during his campaign, President Obama asked the military leadership. "The meeting was productive and I very much appreciated receiving assessments from these experienced and dedicated individuals. During the discussion, I asked the military leadership to engage in additional planning necessary to execute a responsible military drawdown from Iraq," he said in a statement.
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