Media coverage of President Obama's first day in office notes that he moved quickly on key domestic and international priorities. The CBS Evening News reported Obama "said he was going to hit the ground running, and he was true to his word." And on ABC World News, George Stephanopoulos said, "On day one, symbolism is substance. Today it was all about showing that he was keeping the promises of the campaign."
Amid the different story lines emerging from the White House, Obama's actions regarding the Guantanamo detention camp merited top billing on the network newscasts and this morning's major newspapers. NBC Nightly News noted Obama was "reversing a Bush Administration policy to hold terror suspects and accused enemy combatants at a prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and halting military commission trials." The Financial Times reports Obama is "preparing to sign an order on Thursday that would call for the detention facility in Cuba to be shut within a year."
Two other orders, says the AP, will "review military trials of terror suspects and end harsh interrogations." AFP notes the draft also says "no one should be held in any detention facility controlled by the United States in conditions that do not conform with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions." CNN's The Situation Room reported that White House counsel Gregg Craig was "behind closed doors with House Republicans on Capitol Hill telling them about these executive order that are coming." The Los Angeles Times reports, "The swift steps by the Obama administration countered an attempt by advocates of the war crimes court to see the internationally maligned military commissions forced onto the new White House." USA Today also reports "the plan is already drawing fire from Republicans."
In a front-page story headlined "Obama Starts Reversing Bush Policies," the Washington Post reports that "sources...said Obama also will sign two executive orders altering CIA detention and interrogation rules, limiting interrogation standards in all U.S. facilities worldwide to those outlined in the Army Field Manual, and prohibiting the agency from secretly holding terrorist detainees in third-country prisons." The Washington Times also says Obama's will "order the closure of so-called black sites, where CIA and European security services have interrogated terrorist suspects."
McClatchy, the AP, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Christian Science Monitor and The Politico also report the story.
The AP reports President Obama "asked the Pentagon to do whatever additional planning is necessary to 'execute a responsible military drawdown from Iraq.'" Obama's statement was "issued by the White House after the gathering," opening "his much-anticipated effort to withdraw troops more swiftly than the previous administration had proposed. It made no reference to any timeline or his campaign vow to get combat troops out of Iraq in 16 months."
The Hill notes that in his statement, "Obama described the meeting with military, cabinet and administration officials as 'productive,'" adding that "in the 'coming days and weeks,' he will visit the Pentagon and consult with the joint chiefs on 'the situation in Afghanistan'" and on developing "a comprehensive policy for the entire region." Similarly, AFP reports that "the new president, who opposed the Iraq war, has said he wants to redeploy thousands of combat troops from the country to Afghanistan, where conditions have deteriorated and which he says is the prime front against Al-Qaeda." The Washington Times, among other print media outlets, also reports the story this morning.
Meanwhile, McClatchy reports that Gen. Odierno, "the commanding US general in Iraq, said that if the country held peaceful elections this year, the relative calm that had settled on Iraq would be 'irreversible.'"
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To overwhelmingly positive media coverage, President Obama yesterday signed several executive orders to tighten ethics and openness rules for the new Administration. The move was seen by several sources as an implicit repudiation of the Bush White House. Under the headline, "Obama Freezes Top Salaries," the Wall Street Journal reports President Obama, "on a busy first full day in office, announced a wage freeze for top White House staff" as he "signed two executive orders and three presidential memoranda aimed at making government more transparent and tightening ethics rules."
CNN's The Situation Room reported President Obama signed "sweeping executive orders dealing with ethics in the executive branch." ABC World News reported, "With five strokes of the pen, Mr. Obama then ordered some tough ethics and transparency rules." The CBS Evening News reported Obama "signed orders today tightening ethics rules for government employees and gave his new staff instructions on what it means to do government service." NBC Nightly News reported, "The President signed his first executive orders. Freezing staff pay raises and imposing a ban on former staffers from ever lobbying his White House."
The Washington Post reports Obama said the "historic measures do mark the beginning of a new era of openness in our country." In a second story, the Washington Post (reports "ethics experts and open-government advocates" say the "new lobbying and records rules issued by President Obama yesterday appear to go beyond changes implemented by previous presidents, and could usher in an era of openness in federal government."
The Financial Times reports, under the headline, "Obama Ushers In An 'Era Of Openness," that the "new rules made good on many of the commitments Mr Obama made during his election campaign to reduce the influence of lobbyists on public policy." The New York Times reports in a front page story that Obama "called the moves, which overturned two policies of his predecessor, 'a clean break from business as usual.'" The Politico reports Obama's announcement on lobbyists "fulfills a campaign pledge but one that he watered down significantly over the course of his presidential campaign." The AP and McClatchy run similar stories.
Under the headline "Hearing Over, Geithner's Confirmation Is Expected," the New York Times reports "senators of both parties interrogated Timothy F. Geithner, President Obama's nominee to be Treasury secretary, on Wednesday about his personal tax delinquencies and his role in the run-up and response to the financial crisis, but publicly asserted that he would be confirmed soon."
USA Today notes the nominee "said he should have caught the error on several occasions and noted that in hindsight, the documents he signed while an employee at the IMF were very clear in telling workers how to file their taxes." USA Today adds "a number of senators, including both Republicans and Democrats, appeared to accept his assertion that he made an innocent error." The Washington Post reports Geithner "did his taxes using the same software they do: TurboTax, a fact revealed in his Senate confirmation hearing yesterday. ... It's an unlikely image."
Roll Call runs a similar story under the headline "Geithner Walks Away Relatively Unscathed," and the AP reports "several senators told Geithner during the panel's lengthy confirmation hearing that they planned to vote for his nomination," among them GOP Sen. Pat Roberts. The Washington Post notes "Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the committee's ranking Republican, said that Geithner's qualifications and role in carrying out the government's financial rescue program 'gives him unique insight' during a critical time in the crisis." AFP, the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times also report the story.
The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that "the Senate overwhelmingly voted Wednesday to confirm Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, setting aside concerns from some Republicans that she had done too little to distance herself from her husband's fund-raising activities." Clinton "was confirmed by a 94-2 vote, with only Sens. David Vitter and Jim DeMint voting against her appointment." The Hill notes GOP Sen. John Cornyn, "who raised major concerns earlier this week that former President Bill Clinton's charitable foundation opens the former first lady up to conflict-of-interest issues, supported Clinton's nomination." CNN's The Situation Room, however, showed Cornyn saying, "I remain concerned that Senator and soon to be Secretary of State Clinton's diplomatic work will be encumbered by the global activities of the Clinton Foundation."
The AP reports Sen. Richard Lugar, "the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, proposed that former President Bill Clinton's foundation reject foreign contributions." Mrs. Clinton "rejected Lugar's proposal, contending that the foundation's plan to disclose annually its list of donors and a range of its contributions already exceeds legal requirements." The CBS Evening News reported the vote followed "a plea from Republican John McCain." McCain was shown saying, "I think we ought to let Senator Clinton, who is obviously qualified and obviously will serve, get to work immediately."
The AP says "Clinton was sworn in as the nation's 67th secretary of State in her office in the Russell Senate Office Building. Attending the private ceremony was her husband, former president Bill Clinton, and her Senate staff. According to her office, she used the Bible that belonged to her late father." AFP, McClatchy, Roll Call and New York Times, among other news outlets, also report the story this morning.
The Politico reports President Obama "took the oath of office for a second time Wednesday night, a precautionary measure taken the day after Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts flubbed the oath on the Capitol steps." Roberts "came down to the White House and put on his black robe on Obama's first full day in office for an unprecedented do-over at 7:35 in the Map Room." The Washington Post notes that "after a flawless recitation that included no Bible and took 25 seconds, Roberts smiled and said, 'Congratulations, again.'"
The AP reports White House counsel Greg Craig said in a statement, "We believe the oath of office was administered effectively and that the president was sworn in appropriately yesterday. Yet the oath appears in the Constitution itself. And out of the abundance of caution, because there was one word out of sequence, Chief Justice John Roberts will administer the oath a second time."
The New York Times, which reports the story on its front page, AFP, McClatchy, Roll Call and Washington Times run similar stories this morning.
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In a front-page story, the Washington Post reports that Caroline Kennedy "withdrew her name from the list of contenders for the Senate seat vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton, hours after Clinton was sworn in as secretary of state late Wednesday." NBC Nightly News calls the news a "bombshell" and says Kennedy's effort to gain the seat "did not go, as you may know, as smoothly as she had first planned." The AP, notes that according to a statement, Kennedy cited "personal reasons" in deciding to end her bid, and the New York Times says that "Kennedy did not elaborate" on her decision beyond her statement, "but a person who spoke to her suggested that her concerns about the health of" Sen. Ted Kennedy, "who suffers from brain cancer and was hospitalized after a seizure on Tuesday, contributed to her decision." However, the New York Post says "several sources said" Gov. David Paterson, who will make the selection for the seat, "was unimpressed with" Kennedy "in media interviews and in private sessions with various officials. Two sources said Paterson had conveyed to Kennedy on Tuesday that she wasn't likely to get picked."
The Wall Street Journal reports, "The sudden reversal throws open the race for the seat" formerly held by Clinton, and notes Paterson's recent acknowledgment that he's "considering" state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for the post. The Journal adds that NY20 Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D) "is also believed to have emerged as a darkhorse choice for the appointment."
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports this morning, "Minnesota's U.S. Senate battle played out on two fronts Wednesday," as Norm Coleman (R) and Al Franken (D) "met separately with national party leaders in Washington while their lawyers squared off in a St. Paul courtroom." In court yesterday, Franken's attorneys "accused Coleman of launching a 'fishing expedition' in his challenge of the recount" and "urged the three-judge panel to dismiss the lawsuit." The Hill adds that the "cornerstones" of Coleman's case "are 12,000 rejected absentee ballots, alleged double-counting of votes, and precincts where there were more ballots cast than registered voters."
In Washington meanwhile, the AP reports that "Senate Democrats are moving toward letting" Franken "join the chamber while" Coleman pursues his legal challenge of the recount, an quotes Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as telling reporters yesterday, "We're going to try to seat Al Franken. There's not a question in anyone's mind, an assertion by anyone, that there's been any fraud or wrongdoing in this election." AFP adds Reid "dismissed Coleman's legal challenge to the recount that left Franken with a now-certified 225-vote edge out of nearly three million ballots cast, saying 'the numbers just aren't there, he should concede.'" The Washington Times reports that Coleman yesterday said Minnesotans not Reid "will determine the outcome of the" contest.
The AP reports that President Obama "is quickly putting his stamp on the Democratic Party as he seeks to build on his groundbreaking campaign and the party's sweeping victories in back-to-back elections," naming a close ally, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, as the new head of the Democratic National Committee. USA Today adds that Kaine "says he wants his team to win elections but his 'first goal' is to mobilize President Obama's millions of supporters behind his plans for the country."
Meanwhile on the GOP side, Stuart Rothenberg, in his Roll Call column says the contest to head the Republican National Committee "increasingly appears to be a three- or possibly four-person contest, with" current RNC Chief Mike Duncan "holding a tenuous but not insignificant advantage over" ex-Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, "with Michigan GOP Chairman Saul Anuzis and South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson fighting it out for third."
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Jay Leno: "Two million people attended the inauguration, compared to less than 500,000 when Bush was inaugurated four years ago. But that makes sense because four years ago, you know, people had jobs to go to."
Jay Leno: "And there was a stumbling during the reading of the oath," when the "chief justice of the Supreme Court, John Roberts, forgot the words for a second and then he got them in the wrong order. See, how typical is that? Barack, just a second before he takes over, the Republicans get one last screw up in there."
Craig Ferguson: "The new season of 'Lost' kicked off tonight. ... If you haven't seen it, 'Lost' is about a group of desperate people out of touch with the world. It's based on the true story of the Republican Party."
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