Salon: "A brand-new day: Obama does more good in first 8 hours on the job than Bush did in 8 years"

Amerigo Vespucci

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Wed Jan-21-09 05:01 PM
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Salon: "A brand-new day: Obama does more good in first 8 hours on the job than Bush did in 8 years"

A brand-new day

President Obama and Michelle Obama shake hands with Sosa, left, and Beverly Ezeokoli of Brooklyn, N.Y., Wednesday as the Obamas greet members of the public on a White House tour. (Reuters/Larry Downing)

With energy, intelligence and a commitment to transparency, Obama does more good in his first eight hours on the job than Bush did in eight years

By Joan Walsh

http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/politics/2009/01/21/... /

In his inaugural address Tuesday, Barack Obama identified "a sapping of confidence across our land" as one of many worrisome symptoms of American crisis. On Wednesday he moved remarkably quickly to restore national confidence in a dizzying day of action on symbols and substance, all of it pretty much pitch-perfect.

By noon on his first day in office, Obama had called the leaders of Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority to talk about next steps for peace; asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates to halt Guantánamo trials and circulated a draft executive order to close the prison within the year; and attended a prayer service that included the first-ever sermon by a woman minister and the prayers of a Muslim imam.

In the afternoon he signed two executive orders and three presidential memoranda, tightening ethics rules for his staff, strengthening the Freedom of Information Act and giving the public greater access to presidential records. "Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency," he said as he signed the documents. Then he watched Vice President Joe Biden swear in his senior staff, and stayed to shake hands or embrace every one of them. After that he met with senior economic advisors and top military staff to discuss plans for the economy and Iraq; later, he hosted an open house for the American people, a new symbol of his commitment to access and transparency.

Watching Obama with his senior staff, I was impressed by the diversity of this talented collection of people, particularly the number of African-Americans. Our nation's racial history has meant that all of us have been diminished by our failure to tap the country's entire talent pool, not just white talent. Those days won't fully be behind us until we do something about the scandal of poverty, which consigns too many Americans of every race to our civic margins – but today was a good start.

- The public tours will be branded by the RW as Obama turning the WH into Party Central	gmoney	Jan-21-09 05:16 PM	#1
- The RW is irrelevant. They just need now to lie down.	WinkyDink	Jan-21-09 06:27 PM	#8
- Amen to that...	Amerigo Vespucci	Jan-21-09 06:47 PM	#14
- Not a bad day. Keep it up.	InAbLuEsTaTe	Jan-21-09 05:25 PM	#2
- It's a beautiful day! Morning in America after 28 excruciatingly long years. nt	glitch	Jan-21-09 05:58 PM	#3
- Isn't it GRAND...	Johnny Noshoes	Jan-21-09 06:07 PM	#6
- I had a lot more energy than usual today too, isn't that interesting?	glitch	Jan-21-09 06:25 PM	#7
- What a feeling!	Tennessee Gal	Jan-21-09 06:00 PM	#4
- That's right..good of them to put it	zidzi	Jan-21-09 06:03 PM	#5
- Deleted message	Name removed	Jan-21-09 06:37 PM	#9
- Enlighten us all, then.	JeffR	Jan-21-09 06:40 PM	#10
- Oh boy, and only two posts. I'll bite.	Akoto	Jan-21-09 06:40 PM	#11
- Don't hold your breath. I doubt there'll be much enlightment	JeffR	Jan-21-09 06:41 PM	#12
- What is there	Christian30	Jan-21-09 06:44 PM	#13
- LOL! Ain't that the truth..	The Backlash Cometh	Jan-22-09 09:53 AM	#15

Salon: "A brand-new day: Obama does more good in first 8 hours on the job than Bush did in 8 years"

President Obama.