plutherus

Thanks to thevirtualjim:

In his 1st 100 hours:
A quick overview of the news:

• Obama ordered a 120-day halt for Gitmo prosecutions and stopped all the war crimes trials until the military tribunal system can be reevaluated.

• He halted all pending federal agency regulations until they can be reviewed by the administration.

• A draft executive order is being circulated that will close Gitmo within a year and halt all war crimes trials in the meantime. It will be signed tomorrow.*

• He has frozen salaries of all White House aides making more than $100,000 a year.

• He met in the Situation Room with Biden and senior officials to talk about Iraq and Afghanistan and with the economic team about the stimulus package.

• He banned gifts from lobbyists to anyone working in the administration. If a former lobbyist is hired, they can't work on the issue they lobbied on or for any agency they lobbied. If aides leave the administration, they cannot lobby their former colleagues for two years.

• He stopped a last-minute Bush directive to remove gray wolves from the endangered species list. Link.

• Before the day is out, he is expected to reverse the Bush Administration policy of prohibiting U.S. money from funding international family planning groups that provide information about abortion.

• He signed an executive order requiring himself and all past presidents to consult the attorney general before they can claim executive privilege. "Information will not be withheld just because I say so," he said. "It will be withheld because a separate authority believes my request is well grounded in the Constitution." That means before Bush can claim executive privilege over the documents dealing with interrogation, he'll have to get approval from the current A.G. Good luck. [Actually, can a former president claim executive privilege? I guess the point's moot now. Yay!]

• In a move that has journalists squeeing, he reversed the Bush Administration's policy on FOIA, which was to deny everything that could be denied and wait as long as possible to do so. He restored the Clinton-era policy, which was to release everything unless foreseeable harm would result. And he did it as an executive order, which has a much stronger weight in law than an attorney general's memo and harder to overturn.

All that, and his secretary of state got confirmed.

Dear Senator Obama,
In regards to your recent vote deciding that lawbreaking will not be punished, I would like to draw your attention to the reason why people have been supporting you. We are fed up with the usual politics and rule by lobbyist. We want actual change. Not just change in the name of the party in power. If you think that you are going to get a free pass just because you are a Democrat, you are mistaken. We will be watching you, too. We care about change. We do not care about your career advancement. This blatant corruption at the highest levels of our government has got to stop. We wanted to work with you to stop it If you are not going to do anything to stop it, then we will work against you to find someone who will.

When you spoke in Eugene some of us made some signs supporting you. We weren't allowed to bring them in to the stadium where you were speaking. Which means, unfortunately, that you missed seeing our to-do list. I thought you knew that the the reasons people are supporting you. But your recent vote indicates otherwise. So I've attached the list we tried to bring so you can have a chance to see it. Please take special note of items six and seven.

Do not make the mistake of thinking you are doing so well in this election because of your own political cleverness. You are merely the figurehead in a national movement for change.

We may be fans, but we are not your followers. We are pinning a lot of hopes on you. Please do not betray us. If you do, then do not expect our continued support or forgiveness.

Sincerely,
The American People
( photo.jpg )