State-run China Central Television broadcast Obama's inauguration speech live, but when the translator mentioned communism ("earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions."), the channel suddenly cut to an awkwardly smiling news anchor.
In his first act as President, Obama approved a memo by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel which orders all federal agencies to freeze former President Bush's pending regulations until the new administration has a chance to review them.
He also froze pay of senior white house staff members and set ethics rules regarding former lobyists who work in government:
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE50K5GS20090121
Obama will demonstrate his intention to get right to work on Arab-Israeli issues by appointing former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell to be a high-level envoy to the Middle East.
Guantanamo Bay, an iconic representation of the Bush administration's policies of torture and reckless imprisonment may soon close. The Obama Administration instructed military prosecutors Tuesday night to seek a 120-day suspension of legal proceedings involving Gitmo detainees. A motion calls for the delay so the new administration can "review the military commissions process, generally."
The President also issued a proclamation that Jan. 20, 2009, is to be a "national day of renewal and reconciliation." and called upon all Americans to "serve one another" as a way of helping to "remake this nation."
Republicans plan first anti-Democrat press conference of Obama presidency
We, the public, are going to need to work together. The following is a chart of federal borrowing through Dec. 2007:
There was so much borrowing in December, 2008 however that when charted, the fluctuations seen in the above chart are not visible when we plot borrowing through December, 2008:
Obviously, the government has been spending an enormous amount of money -- from the Iraq occupation, to the War on Terror and to the bank bailouts. The effect on the dollar is the same -- we will see inflation. It's smart politics for Obama to encourage us to leverage what has made us great in the past -- including hard work and sacrifice.
Should failing companies be left to fail? Does bailing them out delay our pain while decreasing the value of the dollar? There's going to be criticism of Obama's spending but at least we'll be spending in the US.
As consumers continue to reduce their spending, businesses will go out of business -- including retail and restaurant. (Unemployment heading toward 2 million) The rate at which the nation and world change is speeding up. There is however opportunity for the inventive. It's prudent to be fiscally responsible but fear won't improve the economy.
Reactions:
"(Charles) thinks change & hope made it very slow at the store tonight."
"After 8 long years of being so against so many things that came out of our federal government, I'm personally very excited to be for something and someone for a while. I'm sure that his honeymoon won't last too long, but I for one am going to give him a real healthy benefit of the doubt for quite a while.
I will sleep better tonight knowing that a community organizer and constitutional scholar who is not much older than me is sitting in the driver's seat. It also doesn't hurt that he has already asked us all to do a little more than go shopping to show our patriotism." (Paul Brown)
Your Job:
We have become a divisive nation; one that views arguments as having only two sides. Deteriorating honor, ethics and decency and our increasing exposure to a violent world have contributed to absurd vitriolic debates. Karl Rove proved you could win elections without actually engaging anyone in discussion, but don't let me inflame you, I'm here to engage you.
We have problems. When a problem becomes a crisis the public demands action but the public doesn't generally specify what action they want. The result is that politicians present and argue for a limited set of solutions that are often designed by the very entities involved in the problem.
We may not be able to change government immediately but we can change ourselves. Politics is a quasi-taboo subject because it isn't generally fun to talk about. People tend to only talk about how problems aren't being solved when they are angry about them.
So let's change ourselves! Let's make problem-solving fun! Pick a problem and discuss solutions with someone you know doesn't usually agree with you. It doesn't have to be about politics -- it can be about work or your personal life --diplomatic problem-solving is a good skill that can be developed and applied in many areas. Try to verbalize any common ground you have with the other person and to identify where you differ and what you would be willing to be flexible with. Try to understand what is important to them and why and what is important to yourself and why. Keep your cool! Later, ask yourself how what you based your views on. If you'd like, use the comment section to relay your experience.
If you'd like to solve a problem here using the Comments section, I'll make some suggestions for problems that could be discussed. Feel free to add your own.
- Global Terrorism: How do you reduce it?
- Inflation: How do you stimulate the economy without hurting the value of the dollar?
- Consumerism: Does more of it get us jobs and less of it help the environment? How do we reconcile this?
- Government contract corruption: How do we reduce it?
- We are a two-party system. How can additional parties be given more of a chance to compete?
Note: There are still active discussions regarding Obama in general and Iran in specific in yesterday's discussions
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As a slight aside from todays topic, what a sad state of affairs when you have people like Rush Limbaugh hoping Obama fails..First day in office and he spews that stuff to his followers..
ReplyDeleteIf we all ignored Rush he'd be powerless. They got absolutely crazy during the campaign, throwing out ANYTHING and that's who they are left being.
ReplyDeleteSome thoughts on two of the discussion topics suggested:
ReplyDeleteHow to reduce global terrorism?
One thing that would help is to go after it's financing. The dirty secret is that countries and various entities finance terrorism as a way to have a proxxy war with someone.
Reducing Contract Corruption:
1. Do away with cost plus contracts. Government contract often reward companies for going over budget by paying their over-budget expenses.
2. Clearly define specific goals of the contract and
3. Establish real oversight to enforce those goals.
We've seen government become too much of a tool of private industry. Private industry should be able to make a buck from government contracts but they should also accomplish what was set out to accomplish without bilking the tax payer of more than is needed.
I am sure some of these ideas have been discussed with the new administration and all of the experts in various fields. But if we can come up with some ideas, I might suggest you forward them on to the current administration. I did send some ideas to Obama a year ago, and I always got a response.. There are many groups out there that have been looking for ideas of what should be worked on first.( Moveon.org., Pax Christi; etc etc.)..Since the issues and problems are so great, and the dollars limited..it really is a tough one..which comes first the chichen or egg theory. But we have to keep the dialogue and the accountability in front.
ReplyDeleteSo far, I like what I see from Barack Obama but one of the main points of this blog is that we can never take government for granted, never assume that our leaders have things under control or are serving our best interests. Too often we make the mistake of thinking this is the case and they end up playing the game of publicly acting like leaders and privately acting like pawns. I believe that if we all actively discuss ideas and solutions we can "culturalize" them and we are less likely to be victims of our government.
ReplyDelete