Obama's First Three Days In Office

Obama's First Three Days

Day-yam! The man gets to work fast!

Day #1. Obama becomes President of the United states.

I found it interesting that the Vice President is sworn in to office before the President.

Rahm Emanuel (Chief of Staff) signs a memorandum ordering all agencies and departments to stop all pending regulations until a legal and policy review can be conducted by the Obama administration.

This deals with regulations that Bush put into effect during the last few weeks in office. Law allows sixty days before these can go into effect. Obama wants to stop these last minute deals.

Controversial late rules by the outgoing Bush administration include allowing the carrying of concealed weapons in some national parks and prohibiting medical facilities from receiving federal money for discriminating against doctors and nurses who refuse to assist with abortions or dispense contraceptives based on religious grounds.

It may be hard for him to do this, but it is possible. Possible ways include:

1. Passing a law that allows an incoming President to have say on last-minute regulations.
2. The Senate can pass a law that overrules the President's orders. Basically, they would pass a law making illegal what an order allows.
3. I believe the Senate can get rid of these orders with a 2/3 vote, but I'm not sure. Truthfully I am a little confused on this entire subject.

The Obama administration also requested a continuance in the military commissions trials scheduled for this week. Basically this stops the trials of Guantanamo detainees for 120 days, which gives the administration time to change the way detainees are put on trial. He wants them in U.S. Courts instead of military coutrts, so as to give them their due process. Tuesday morning the judges granted the request.

Oh ya, click here for a picture of his new ride...THE BEAST!

Day #2. Ethics Reform Day

Obama started the day by calling foreign leaders, including many Middle Eastern leaders.

He also issued some regulations.

1. He will freeze his White House senior staff pay at current levels to the full extent allowed by law ... The President and his staff recognize that in these austere times, everyone must do more with less, and the White House is no exception.

2. In the Executive Order on Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel, the President, first, prohibits executive branch employees from accepting gifts from lobbyists. Second, he closes the revolving door that allows government officials to move to and from private sector jobs in ways that give that sector undue influence over government. Third, he requires that government hiring be based upon qualifications, competence and experience, not political connections.

3. The President instructs all members of his administration to operate under principles of openness, transparency and of engaging citizens with their government. To implement these principles and make them concrete, the Memorandum on Transparency instructs three senior officials to produce an Open Government Directive within 120 days directing specific actions to implement the principles in the Memorandum. And the Memorandum on FOIA instructs the Attorney General to in that same time period issue new guidelines to the government implementing those same principles of openness and transparency in the FOIA context.

4. This order ends the practice of having others besides the President assert executive privilege for records after an administration ends. Now, only the President will have that power, limiting its potential for abuse. And the order also requires the Attorney General and the White House Counsel to review claims of executive privilege about covered records to make sure those claims are fully warranted by the Constitution.

That last one is key because it no longer allows members of President Bush's administration to claim executive privelege when they are put on trial, which is what they have been doing with the justice department scandal. Basically, they will have to give over documents and be more transparent with what happened.

Day #3. Guantanamo Must Close!!!!!! Waterboarding Must Stop!!!!!!

More regulations!! These ones I love.

1. Close the detainee camp at Guantanamo Bay within a year and establish a process by which the U.S. government figures out what to do with the remaining detainees.

2. Create a task force to recommend policies on handling terror suspects who are detained in the future. Specifically, the group would look at where those detainees should be housed since Guantanamo is closing.

3. Require all U.S. personnel to follow the U.S. Army Field Manual while interrogating detainees. The manual explicitly prohibits threats, coercion, physical abuse and waterboarding, a technique that creates the sensation of drowning and has been termed a form of torture by critics. However, a Capitol Hill aide says that the administration also is planning a study of more aggressive interrogation methods that could be added to the Army manual - which would create a significant loophole to Obama's action Thursday.

Obama also met with military officials to talk about the process of withdrawing from Iraq, which he pledged to do within 16 months while he was on the campaign trail. I won't forget your campaign promises Obama.

In other administration news, the following cabinet members have been confirmed by the Senate:

Steven Chu as energy secretary
Tom Vilsack as agriculture secretary
Ken Salazar as interior secretary
Janet Napolitano as secretary of homeland security
Peter Orszag as head of the White House budget office
Hillary Clinton as secretary of state

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