Yes, CHANGE, the most popular buzzword right now has come to this website. I can’t say that it is the change Obama is talking of. See I am a student and I have an enormous workload this semester . Mainly because I have thirty-two books to read over the next seventeen weeks. That isn’t counting for research (more book reading), papers, projects, presentations, and busy work. Yet I don’t want my personal life to be totally destroyed. I was trying to post every day or nearly everyday. But now I will have a schedule implemented so I can post items yet not have it cut into my studies. So I figure the best time to post is either on break in between classes or after I get home from my classes. I will also TRY to post once on the weekend, probably in the evening. So from now until the forseeable future (mid-May), I will update on Monday and Wednesday’s that will be able to be viewed on TUESDAYS and THURSDAYS. Then an additional post on either FRIDAY SATURDAY or SUNDAY. I really apologize for this to my few regular viewers but it is what has to be done.
I don’t undestand how overnight all of a sudden the nation is united. So I suppose Democrats take power and they think the nation is all good. The people all agree. To me it just doesn’t make sense. Don’t they realize there are Republicans who are very upset with the Executive Orders? Are they just going to ignore a portion of the U.S.? What about those who are a bit less educated and think Obama could fix the nation in a matter of two weeks? They won’t be “ONE” in another week from now. I for one am growing angrier and angrier with the Gitmo situation. The more I think about it, the angrier I get. I think it may be a mistake if Obama doesn’t make the right decisions in the long run. It could be an ok thing if it s implemeted correctly. I unfortunatley can’t see a succesful way of closing Guantanamo Bay and dealing with the prisoners in any safe manner.
I apologize for being late on this post. I fell fairly ill today and I didn’t really want to do much. I didn’t watch the news, all I did was go to work then came home and rested. It is now 2 a.m. on the 23rd, and I can’t sleep, as usual, but I feel a lot better. I figured this would be as good as any to update the blog.
More Executive Orders – Today the 44th President signed more executive orders that pertained to the tactics in place to confront terrorists around the world. He signed an executive order to close Guantanmo Bay within a year, to close other secret CIA Prisons, and to put an end to torture. I more or less touched on my opinion on earlier on these issues. I really hate to sound like a broken record but since this is the big news I have to say it again. These are one thing that the President is wrong in doing. I don’t care about the “humanity” of these issues. We are at war, and in wartime we need to take tough measures. I don’t like the closing of Guantanmo Bay. Yeah, maybe the terrorists should have a trial, but Guantanmo Bay is a prison for the enemies of the state that is off our own soil. That is a good thing. I don’t want to hear that even one terrorist is being house in a major prison in or around Los Angeles or wherever I end up living. if they break out, then that is a major threat. The terrorist would be on the lose hellbent to do damage. He could murder a few people and the blood would ultimatley be on Obama’s hands. As for the secret CIA prisons, I can’t say much I don’t know anything about them. As for the abolishment of the use of torutre or waterboarding … again this is bad. I don’t care you who you are, everyone has a pain threshold that can be crossed. Once you that happens the one having the pain inflicted on them will cough up info if they have it. Yes it is brutal, yes it is inhuman, but if it saves American lives then I don’t care. Ultimatley these executive orders may make the United States less safe. Sure Obama will still be recieving intel, and do not doubt that he will act accordingly, but these Exec. Orders takes tools out of his and the nation’s arsenal.
New every-morning report on Economics – I really like this move. Every morning Mr. 44 will get both a National Security Report as well as a State of the Nation type of report with economics. I imagine this is something that will continue for Presidents to come. It is really important for the leaders to know on a day to day basis just how our nation stands. If we are going to get out of the recession as fast as possible it is also vital to have the report and be able to track what is going on.This was all stated by Robert Gibbs the White House Press Secretary in his first big release.
Blackberry is O.K. for Obama - There has been a controversy with Barack Obama and if he will be able to keep his phone. I imagine the controversy is if it gets hacked that it could potentially reveal major security issues and secrets. But I think all they have to do is boost the security of the phone and it will be a good thing. He could contact his people very quickly in a multitude of ways with his Blackberry at his side 24/7. There are restrictions apparently, as Politico.com is reporting in terms of the number of contacts and what he can do.
Oath Re-Do – You may have noticed that I neglected to speak of the re-do of his Preisdential Oath. Sure he messed up, due to John Roberts, and he should have re-done it to have it right for the record. But some have been saying he technically wasn’t President so his Day One Executive Orders shouldn’t count. That is total bullcrap. Cut Obama a break here. He would just re-do the executive orders if a court ruled that he wasn’t the President. He cut Bush a break sort to speak, so lets cut Obama one here. He was elected, he is our leader, this thing with the Oath is flat out dumb.
Day three … technically day four … should be interesting as President Obama decided to accept the G.O.P. request for Republicans to meet with Obama about the stimulus plan. Besides following Obama on a day to day process there are other things I want to talk about. So be on the look out for those.
Well, Obama hasn’t wasted a moment of his first day. Even if it isn’t directly tied to an action that Obama did by writing an Executive Order, it was quite a newsworthy day. It seemed like every several minutes there was a breaking news story on CNN or Fox News that stated President Barack Obama had accomplished another task on the day. I know the media is in love with the guy, but it was all actually pretty important stuff.
Obama doesn’t want to launch a criminal probe against Bush – In today’s Washington Times, and other media outlets, uber liberal House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for a criminal probe against George W. Bush in terms of breaking laws against National Security. Yeah, we all know that Pelosi loathes Republicans and Bush so of course she wants him put away for years. Obama sees it differently however. He said that we as a nation should look forward instead of backwards. Basically he would let Bush off the hook anyway, and that we are in a new age and it shouldn’t matter what he did. Obama repealed or is planning to repeal a lot of what Bush accomplished in office anyway. Some of this will be discussed below.
Obama doesn’t want to tax the rich – upsets Pelosi More - Pelosi, and her communist ways, (sorry I really don’t like Pelosi) wants for Obama to raise taxes on the rich to spread the wealth around to try and boost the economy. Obama more or less replied and said no. We are in a recession which means that the people don’t have a lot of money or don’t have a great income of money. So why should people be taxed? It doesn’t make sense and President Obama understands that. Plus it upset Pelosi more and if you upset her … it … you automatically get brownie points in my book. So far Obama is two for two on his first day as POTUS.
Obama meets with Generals - Now Obama met with military leaders today to try and find a way out of Iraq in only sixteen months. I really thought that he was going to flip on this issue. I know he wanted out, but yet I thought he would fulfill the timeline that the Iraqi Prime Minister gave George W. Bush. I believe it is a little too quickly. We need to finish the job or else things oculd get worse. Now i know Obama wants to primarially focus on the war in Afghanastan. I suppose to be on the bright side of this, we should have made Iraq the second war instead of Afghanastan. We still don’t have Bin Laden and we need to capture that man. At least Obama is pulling the troops out of Iraq to just put them in Afghanastan. Yeah it is bad, but he could have just pulled them out for no reason but just going home. That wouldn’t justify all those who we lost over the past years.
Gitmo is no mo’ - President Obama also is working on closing Guantanmo Bay Prison. This is the very “controversial” place where we house our prisoners of war and suspected terrorists. It has been deemed unconstitutional by many, but as I have argued before it is for the best. It helps protect this nation. President Obama would disagree I guess. Today he suspended military commissions for 120 days so he can review where to put the captured terrorists. This raises a question however: Where do we put them? Do we bring them to the States? People will not go for that, they don’t want a terrorist being caught, put in prison, just for them to bust out and do damage to America. Do we release them back to the battlefield then? No, that isn’t an option either. Gitmo was actually a good thing, and I don’t like Obama’s decision on this. Unless he can pull an ace out of his sleeve somehow with a resolution of where to put the suspects, then this may be a bad decision.
Obama Freezes Pay in Washington - We are in a recession. That means there is not a lot of money going around. So what does he do? He freezes pay of his senior advisors to where they can not get a raises. This way there will be more money going around to try and help the economy. This is a no brainer and a good thing. Obama is d three for five so far
Lobbys and Ethics - Another pleasing item Obama took care of today. He basically said screw you to lobbyists. He doesn’t want to be corrupted by them. They can make their cases but they won’t be able to make the laws, they won’t be able to donate money or give gifts to the President to influence him in the sense of a highest bidder will get the President to go their way. That way President ethics will be stronger. I like this as hopefully Obama will not be corrupt. It doesn’t eliminate lobbying but it does reduce the likelyhood of corruption. There are also other stimpulations mentioned that were not in the hyperlink above.
Transparency - This is my most favorite part of today’s executive orders and outcomes of todays work at the White House. Obama promises transparency to the dealings of the White House. He wants the people to know what he, and the Government is up to. That is how government is supposed to be. On the new and improved white house website (www.whitehouse.gov) there is a section that shows upcoming legislation and itenerary and people can actually leave comments on them that either Obama, or more likely his aides, may read and the people’s voice will actually be counted. THAT IS AMAZING! I am one who sort of said “yeah right” when people said that the people of America’s voice and action can actually make a difference. Maybe now we do have a bit more of a direct voice. He also is going to have podcasts and youtube videos every week in the weekly radio address. Although sometimes meaningless, I find them interesting and a way for the President to connect to the people.
Obama gets his secretary of state - Hillary Clinton was sworn in today as the Secretary of State. That was his first choice for the position. I don’t really have an opinion on this at this time. But I do have an opinion on how the system works. Shouldn’t a President have his full cabinent installed before he starts his job? There are holes in his cabinet and someone has to make up for their jobs. To me they should all be approved by this time. If the house rules a person isn’t worthy, then the backup should go through the process until someone has the position. All I am saying is that he should have everyone in place when he starts for a Government that will work for the people. If not all positions are filled that is wrong. This isn’t Obama’s fault, it is those who are doing these reviews and approving of people.
Obama dissapointed in Biden - Ok, he isn’t totally dissapointed overall, but Biden made a joke about Obama being sworn in the first time. In the background standing behind Biden was Barack Obama, he glared at Biden and shook his head. You could really tell he was pissed off. Feel free to read articles on this, but I would rather provide a link to a video that shows it instead of your reading about it. Click here to view the Politico44 video that I speak of.
Overall – Obama appeared pretty fair and centrist today. I do disagree with what he did with Gitmo, and I believe pulling out before 16 months is slightly short, but he may change his mind on the latter after he meets with Gen. Petraeus. I do like the open door policy if you will, and that he isn’t going to tolerate jokes against the right. He recognize that politics is serious, and they are there to do a job for the people of America whose views transverse the political spectrum. Also some analysts say there may be more Democrats and Liberals mad at Obama right now, than Republicans and Conservatives. This was only Day One that has opened a can of worms that will send this country in a new direction. What will he do tomorrow?
Rather than a preview, it is more of a statement. I promise to talk about so many things that happened on the first day of Obama’s Presidency. There is a good six or seven stories I wish to comment on, but it is going to take me a while to write it all up. Obama has sure done a lot in just the first day.
