In no way am I trying to taint yesterday with politics; what follows is my assessment on its impact on our politics as a historian, and not as a liberal Democrat. I certainly do not suggest that all of these outcomes are inevitable; I suggest that they are either possible, probably, or likely. I cannot [...] Read more – ‘An historians reaction to Bin Ladens death’.
Obama announces to the world the death of Osama Bin Ladin. It’s a powerful speech the nation has been waiting for, for almost a decade. Say what you want about the war in Afghanistan, Obamas backing down on his promise to end it and pull home the troops, but this surely solidifies his previously vocal [...] Read more – ‘A day of reckoning’.
Finally, here’s the full list of budget cuts made in the 11th hour to keep the goverment from shutting down. It’s not pretty, and as Paul Krugman wonders in his NY Times article: Where the heck is the Obama that was actually voted into office? Read more – ‘The full list of budget cuts’.
Most of the country, and the world, were pretty sure this time it would actually happen. I mean, smoking pot in california is about as rare and subculture as having a tan. But to everyones surprise it was voted down. No pot for you, America. This could even have been Obamas and the democrats key [...] Read more – ‘Why did legalization of marijuana – prop 19 – fail?’.
President Obama on Wednesday will make clear that he opposes any compromise that would extend the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy beyond this year, officials said, adding a populist twist to an election-season economic package that is otherwise designed to entice support from big businesses and their Republican allies. So says NY Times. Read more – ‘Obama refuses to extend tax cuts to the rich’.
The post about what Obama has done so far from early spring is easily one of the most popular ones on this site. But a lot of time has passed since then, so here’s an updated list: The President signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The President announced the “Making Home Affordable” home refinancing [...] Read more – ‘So what has Obama done so far? Updated.’.
Barack Obama says US effort in Iraq to switch from troops to diplomats as timetable for military withdrawal is on track. In his speech yesterday he proclaimed that the seven-year conflict costing US taxpayers around $700bn and the lives of more than 4,000 American troops was coming to an end as a military operation “as [...] Read more – ‘Obama: War in Iraq to end as promised’.
Unlike everyone else, the wealthiest Americans are saving money and can afford a higher rate. So says Robert Reich on Salon.com. The economy is slouching backward because consumers can’t and won’t spend enough to revive it. Congress is about to recess for the summer without doing anything to fill the gap. And it looks like [...] Read more – ‘Why the Bush tax cut for the wealthy must go’.
BBC reports from a poll that checks how people around the world views other countries, and for the first time since the Iraq war the US influence are seen as more positive than negative. What’s been called “The Obama Effect” seem to be true and holding. Just check the steep rise of this graph! And [...] Read more – ‘The world once more views US favorably’.
So, a healthcare bill has finally passed. While it’s really a long shot from what both Obama wanted and what is really needed to truly reform the healthcare industry, it is an important first step. And it’s also an important political win, that will help the democrats in the upcoming congress elections, even though I’m [...] Read more – ‘What does the healthcare bill really do?’.
Fox News yesterday tried their best to spin a mistake he made at a speech the other day about the proposed savings of his health care bill, where he stated it would bring down the deficit by $ 1 trillion over the next decade. Instead they made it a point to call out that the [...] Read more – ‘Fox inadvertently proves Obamas point’.
President Barack Obama’s proposed budget would shift $112 billion away from the nation’s top earners in 2012, according to the Tax Foundation, a nonprofit organization that monitors federal and state fiscal policies. The group analyzed the impact of the 10-year budget proposal on various income groups. The study, released last week, said higher-income families would [...] Read more – ‘Obama Budget Would Take $112B From Rich’.
I know, we’re not maintaining this blog much but there’s an issue that just has to be adressed: The Nobel Peace Prize that President Obama recently was awarded. He’s gotten a lot of flack over this, especially in the conservative media – he even himself stated that he doesn’t really think he deserves it. And [...] Read more – ‘The Peace Prize Controversy’.
First, welcome to What is Obama doing. This blog has had quite a successful run, but we regret to inform you that due to lack of contributors (and time) it is no longer steadily maintained. We still recommend browsing through the history as there are many interesting posts, some perhaps about things you didn’t know [...] Read more – ‘Hello – and good bye!’.
Bill Maher yesterday made some really interesting points about Obama, stating that the president is not getting the job done now when he actually has every opportunity to, and instead worries too much about being liked. Barack Obama needs to start putting it on the line in the fights against the banks, the energy companies [...] Read more – ‘“Obama needs some Bush”’.
Obama truly does have a wonderful sense of humor. Here’s a clip from Stephen Colbert Report from his airing in Iraq. Truly a sight to behold, and apparently Obamas ears are “truly that big”! Read more – ‘Obama orders Stephen Colbert to shave his head’.
To renew our faith in Obama that he might just really be what we all hoped he would be, yesterday he addressed the muslim world from Kairo, Egypt, in what many talking heads around the world already likens to historic speeches like I have a dream and I am a berliner in terms of impact. [...] Read more – ‘Obama makes historic speech to muslim world’.
On Friday Obama stated that cybercrime prevention is getting higher priority, and will now be run from the White House. His strategy is compiled in a public document that will also be distributed to companies most vulnerable to cyberattacks. This is news because Bush previous strategy was, of course, top secret to pretty much everyone. [...] Read more – ‘Obama announces his plan against evil hackers’.
Rachel Maddows reports the following, which should really make everyone wonder – what IS Obama doing? This is not the type of thing most of us expected from him, the ability for the state to keep prisoners in detention indefinitely, without trial or limits, for crimes they might commit! Check out the video here: Read more – ‘Obama says “indefinite detention” a possibility’.
It seemed among the easiest of his transparency pledges and is entirely under his control, but President Obama is finagling his promise to post bills on the White House Web site for comment for five days before he signs them. Mr. Obama last week signed four bills, each just a day or two after Congress [...] Read more – ‘Still no 5 day public review of bills’.
Update: As there are now quite a few places that are linking to this outdated post, I would like to direct you to also read this post with some of his newer efforts. - Due to the recent pause here on WIOD, I am sure our readers would really like to know what they’ve missed! [...] Read more – ‘So what has Obama really done so far?’.
As (shockingly) many of you know, WIOD has been on a involuntary hiatus for a while. This due to various issues in meatspace for everyone involved which has forced us to prioritize the available time we have. But even after the first few days something happened that I’ve never really experienced before on a blog [...] Read more – ‘OK, you win!’.
Well, it seems this issue just won’t go away for poor Obama. He’s tried his best to sidestep it so far, joking it away in his online town hall stunt in march. In the “Citizen’s Briefing Book,” which compiles the results of an online project launched by President Obama’s transition office to solicit policy ideas from the [...] Read more – ‘White House online survey says Americans top priority is pot legalization’.
Sorry folks for all the endless white noise the last couple of weeks. Do not try to tune your screens, the fault is all ours. Both me and Paul have been having a mighty busy and rough time that has left us having to spend our energy on other matters for a while. I do [...] Read more – ‘Hey, what’s going on here?’.
After earlier in his career having stated he believed in decriminalization of Marijuana use, he made a major faux pas recently in an interactive town hall meeting that has created major waves in the online community. To be fair, dissing the entire “online audience” which is exactly the same crowd that raised half a billion [...] Read more – ‘Day 71: Marijuana Mishap’.
First, we apologize for the slump in activity last few days. The recession hits everyone! Seems Obama can’t get a break appointing his nominees: President Obama’s nominee for the No. 2 post at the Environmental Protection Agency dropped out, saying scrutiny of a group he was affiliated with was threatening to become “a distraction” for [...] Read more – ‘Day 67: Obama’s Pick for EPA Deputy Drops Out’.
As some of you may know, Politifact has an amazing Obameter that tracks his campaign promises and how he lives up to them. Recently, they posted a look at his Top Ten. Of the 10 promises, 1 has been fully kept, 1 has been kept via compromise, 5 are in the works and 3 have [...] Read more – ‘Day 66: A scorecard of Obamas promises’.
As if jumping executives from the roofs of bank and wall street buildings wasn’t enough of a public sidewalk hazard, the House overwhelmingly passed a near total tax on bonuses paid to employees of AIG and other bailout biters. And to really nail the coffin – it’s retroactive. The House vote sent some employees into [...] Read more – ‘Day 61: Bailout executives panic – House passes 90% tax on bonuses’.
Despite its popularity – I haven’t watched this show in years. I’ll be watching it tonight ‘tho. In a rare move, President Obama will appear on the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” this Thursday as part of his larger tour through Southern California. The president seems to be pulling out all the stops to garner [...] Read more – ‘Day 60: Obama to appear on Tonight Show With Jay Leno’.
President Obama begins a visit to southern California today where he plans to use a backdrop of job losses and home foreclosures to argue for a budget proposal he says will begin building a new economy. California supported Obama in last year’s election, and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger endorsed the president’s stimulus package, which will [...] Read more – ‘Day 60: Obama goes to California’.
The White House has begun a full frontal assault to get President Obama’s first budget through Congress. During an appearance on Tuesday at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Mr. Obama took a swipe at Republican critics of his $3.6 trillion budget and its agenda for health care, energy, taxes and economic recovery. “If there are members [...] Read more – ‘Day 59: Obama Defends Budget Proposal’.
Moo. The government on Saturday permanently banned the slaughter of cows too sick or weak to stand on their own, seeking to further minimize the chance that mad cow disease could enter the food supply. The Agriculture Department proposed the ban last year after the biggest beef recall in U.S. history. The recall involved a [...] Read more – ‘Day 58: Obama finalizes rule to reduce the risk of mad cow disease’.
Obama on Monday vowed to try to stop the faltering insurance giant American International Group from paying out hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses to executives, as the administration scrambled to avert a populist backlash against banks and Wall Street that could complicate Mr. Obama’s economic recovery agenda. “In the last six months, A.I.G. has [...] Read more – ‘Day 57: Obama Will Try to Block A.I.G. Bonuses’.
With little notice by the mainstream media, President Barack Obama has removed vital protections on doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals who refuse to perform abortions and other procedures they consider immoral. It is nothing less than an assault on civil liberties and medical conscience, says Newt Gingrich. It seems Obamas decision to consider medical [...] Read more – ‘Day 56: Newt Gingrich throws a hissy fit’.
Newsmax.com, one of America’s leading online news services, is conducting an urgent national online poll about President Barack Obama and his new administration. Newsmax will provide the results of the poll to major media outlets. In addition, Newsmax will share its results with popular radio talk-show hosts across America. And as we guess the votes [...] Read more – ‘Day 56: Vote on Obama’.
I can appreciate problems with discussing negotiations in public – but a state secret? President Barack Obama came into office in January promising a new era of openness. But now, like Bush before him, Obama is playing the national security card to hide details of the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement being negotiated across the globe. [...] Read more – ‘Day 53: Obama decides proposed Israeli-Palestinian treaty is a state secret’.
Today on the official white house website, Obama released a memo restricting the use of presidential signing statements, and urging agency reviews of all such actions, old as well as new. Perhaps this could shed light on past abuses of executive powers, and even possibly revert some of the Bush doctrines. To ensure that all [...] Read more – ‘Dat 51: Memorandum on presidential signing statements’.
Yesterday the man in charge called for sweeping changes in the American education system. Apparently he will, among other things, make good of his promise to link teacher pay to performance. He also has a soft spot for charter schools, which he calls “laboratories of innovation”, and intends to double the financing for those. “For [...] Read more – ‘Day 51: Outlines plan for overhauling education’.
You’d think religious objections to scientific research would have ended with the invention of penicillin. As President Obama reversed the Bush administration’s limits on embryonic stem-cell research, he said scientific decisions must be “based on facts, not ideology.” The president on Monday signaled a clear shift in tone from the Bush administration on a broad [...] Read more – ‘Day 50: Obama strives to separate religion and science’.
The US has had an embargo against Cuba for generations – it will be interesting to see how this effects Obama’s popularity in Miami. President Barack Obama is poised to offer an olive branch to Cuba in an effort to repair the US’s tattered reputation in Latin America. The White House has moved to ease [...] Read more – ‘Day 49: Obama moves to improve relations with Cuba’.
This week, Obama acknowledges times are tough and lists day-by-day actions that the government is doing to help rebuild the economy. The President also warns there are tough choices ahead, and his administration will use honest accounting methods to deal with them. His office ended no-bid contracts, and has started the process of reforming healthcare. Read more – ‘Obama’s weekly address: Saturday – March 07, 2009’.
A small but interesting footnote is that Obama is currently favored 69 over 23, according to an average from a large bunch of polls over at RealClearPolitics. Gallup positioned him at a stunning 72/19 according to that site. So if we had a sister site called How is Obama doing, it would currently read: pretty [...] Read more – ‘Day 49: Still the popular guy that gets all the girls’.
President Obama will announce Monday that he is reversing Bush administration limits on federal financing for embryonic stem cell research as part of a pledge to separate science and politics, White House officials said Friday. Story on NYTimes Read more – ‘Day 46: New stance on stem cell research’.
Looks like we at WIOD miscounted. I thought today was Day 42. NYT corrected me. X-( Well, that didn’t take long. Just 44 days into the job, and President Obama is going gray. It happens to all of them, of course — Bill Clinton still had about half a head of brown hair when he [...] Read more – ‘Day 45: Obama already going grey’.
For those of you outside the US who may not know WTF is “Yukka Mountain” and why storing nuclear waste there is controversial, here is the Wikipedia page on the topic. President Barack Obama has come through on a campaign promise to oppose plans to build a storage vault for nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain [...] Read more – ‘Day 40: Obama keeps promise to oppose storing nuclear waste at Yukka Mountain’.
I honestly didn’t think Obama would ever do this. The Obama administration threw open the curtain on years of Bush-era secrets Monday, revealing anti-terror memos that claimed exceptional search-and-seizure powers and divulging that the CIA destroyed nearly 100 videotapes of interrogations and other treatment of terror suspects. The Justice Department released nine legal opinions showing [...] Read more – ‘Day 39: Obama releases secret memos authorizing warrantless seizure of terror suspects’.
This week’s address for your viewing enjoyment: The main message is that Obama says he’s willing to fight entrenched interests that are not working in the interests of the American people. It’ll be interesting so see how he does. Read more – ‘Obama’s weekly address: Saturday – February 28, 2009’.
Probably making half of the midwestern trailer park population shake their freedom fries in anger, Obama seems to make true of his campaign statement that sales of assault weapons should be banned. “As President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them [...] Read more – ‘Day 36: Obama to Seek New Assault Weapons Ban’.
Obama is expected to start the process of removing hedge fund tax breaks. If there is one tax loophole that looks dead in the water, it’s the law that lets hedge fund and private equity managers pay a 15-percent capital-gains rate on the multimillion-dollar fees they collect — substantially less than the top income tax [...] Read more – ‘Day 35: Obama expected to remove hedge fund tax breaks’.
Here’s the video of the entire Presidential address given February 24, 1009. Many hope this will be the first of at least eight. ON EDIT (March 3, 2009 @ 09:45 EST): The old video player started automatically and crashed Safari browsers, so I replaced it with better-behaved YouTube code. Read more – ‘Obama’s address to congress’.
The dinner wasn’t all glamor and charisma – the President also unveiled a plan to reduce the US national debt with higher taxes on the wealtlhy, and cutting back on war spending. Who says the glamour and the glitz is all owned and revered by the Hollywood only. The new story has it that the [...] Read more – ‘Day 33: Obama holds gala dinner that outshines Oscars’.
Here’s this week’s address. Interesting semi-related observation: As of this post, the video isn’t at Whitehouse.org – so I had to search around for it. Also, this is the first time I’ve seen the address with subtitles. In this episode: President Obama says the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will have an impact as soon [...] Read more – ‘Obama’s weekly address: Saturday – February 21, 2009’.
I don’t understand this latest move by the President. Human rights are supposed to be fundamental – so it shouldn’t matter if he thinks the US Constitution applies to them. Everyone deserves an open trail if charged with a crime. The Obama administration, siding with the Bush White House, contended Friday that detainees in Afghanistan [...] Read more – ‘Day 32: Obama claims detainees in Afganistan have no rights’.
Obama is seeking to scale back the world’s nuclear arsenal. President Obama is preparing to move ahead with the most ambitious arms-control agenda in decades, calling for dramatic cuts in US and Russian arsenals, a halt to the Bush administration’s plan for a more advanced nuclear warhead, and the ratification of a global treaty banning [...] Read more – ‘Day 31: Obama seeks to cut back on nukes’.
After a string of costly bailout and stimulus measures, President Obama will set a goal this week of cutting the annual deficit at least in half by the end of his term, administration officials said. The reduction would come in large part through Iraq troop withdrawals and higher taxes on the wealthy. Story on NYTimes Read more – ‘Day 31: Obama Has Plan to Slash Deficit, Despite Stimulus Bill’.
I’m amazed the federal government is allowed to engage in accounting tricks in the first place – let alone be able to hide a 2 trillion +++ dollar shortfall. For his first annual budget next week, President Obama has banned four accounting gimmicks that President George W. Bush used to make deficit projections look smaller. [...] Read more – ‘Day 31: Obama raises deficit by implementing transparent accounting’.
In what’s sure to be seen by fundamentalists as a massive blow to morality, Obama decided that the US will support the right of all individuals to love whomever they want. In late December the United Nations General Assembly held a symbolic vote on a statement calling for the universal decriminalization of homosexuality. France spearheaded [...] Read more – ‘Day 30: Obama removes US objections to universal decriminalization of homosexuality’.
Obama will be visiting our neighbor to the north today. It’s aboot time we had a president other countries are happy to see, ‘eh? Obama goes to Canada on Thursday for his first foreign visit as president. It will be short, about six hours long. He is not staying for dinner. But he will meet [...] Read more – ‘Day 29: Obama visits Canada for the first time as president’.
Karl Rove, known as “Bush’s Brain“, has avoided having to testify for years. Most recently, on January 16th, four days before the inauguration, Bush’s lawyers advised Rove to ignore congressional subpoenas. In other words: The outgoing administration gave itself permission to exempt one of its members from investigation. (Yes, you read that right. That dull [...] Read more – ‘Day 28: Obama seeks delay of Rove deposition’.
All that starts well doesn’t necessarily end well, it seems. Even as it pulls back from harsh interrogations and other sharply debated aspects of George W. Bush ’s “war on terrorism,” the Obama administration is quietly signaling continued support for other major elements of its predecessor’s approach to fighting Al Qaeda. In little-noticed confirmation testimony [...] Read more – ‘Day 28: Obama’s war on terror may resemble Bush’s’.
In an effort to show the taxpayers where their money is going in the recovery efforts, and surely to win more support for the effort as well, recovery.org has been launched. Taxpayers will be able to see in detail how the money is spent, on which projects in which states, even which contractors are awarded [...] Read more – ‘Day 28: Launches recovery.org’.
To give readers a clue as to how far behind the rest of the world the US is in terms of rail infrastructure, here is a map of all the high-speed routes in the US: Traditionally, the automobile lobby works hard to discourage rail infrastructure and ensure that highway funding gets preference. But this time, [...] Read more – ‘Day 27: Obama plans high-speed rail expansion’.
President Obama stopped by the University of Chicago campus on Sunday for two hours of basketball with friends. Here’s an analysis of Obama’s game from former NBA players. Reviews are generally positive. Obama’s basketball game was dissected on nation television on Sunday, when CNN’s “State of the Union with John King” asked several NBA stars [...] Read more – ‘Day 27: NBA players analyze Obama’s basketball game’.
We only have two more Weekly Addresses to post in order to catch up. Apologies to everyone’s RSS feed. 1/31/09: Your Weekly Address from White House on Vimeo. In this episode: Obama focuses on the financial crisis, acknowledges that Americans are suffering, warns the recovery will take years, and addresses CEO abuses. Read more – ‘Obama’s weekly address: Saturday – January 31st, 2009’.
Swedish newspaper E24 ran a story yesterday with the headline “Made in Sweden is hot again”. Not since prime minister Olof Palme compared the bombings of Hanoi with Treblinka has Sweden been so debated on the other side of the Atlantic. In the times of financial crisis and regressing export markets the panicked Americans doesn’t [...] Read more – ‘Day 27: Swedish newspapers about Obama’s banking stance’.
Several sources seem to have sources that claim Obama is about to decide when/how many troops will be added to the war in Afghanistan, something that have been anxiously expected but delayed. Yesterday the White House promised he would make a decision “shortly” – whatever that means in politi-speak. Story on Google News In other [...] Read more – ‘Day 27: Afghan war troops possibly on the way, new wiki launched’.
Every Saturday President Obama posts his weekly address on the internet. I can’t believe we at WIOD haven’t already started posting these. Thankfully, we aren’t that far behind – so I’ll start from the Valentine’s Day address two days ago. Topics: Economic stimulus, Economic crisis, Hope Read more – ‘Obama’s weekly address: February 14, 2009’.
The American habit attempting to name government positions after a hereditary, autocratic dynasty has always baffled me. We have a Drug Czar, Bush proposed a War Czar, and there was talk of a Car Czar position opening up – but Obama seems to have nixed that idea: President Obama has dropped the idea of appointing [...] Read more – ‘Day 26: Obama decides against the idea of a “Car Czar”.’.
The scientific community is all atwitter this weekend as news spread that Obama is getting ready to lift the prohibition on the Federal government from funding stem cell research. Expect conservative fundamentalists to roll out the old “snowflake baby” argument by this time next week. U.S. President Barack Obama will soon issue an executive order [...] Read more – ‘Day 25: Obama to allow Federal funding of stem cell reseach’.
Savoring his first big victory in Congress, President Barack Obama on Saturday celebrated the newly passed $787 billion economic stimulus bill as a “major milestone on our road to recovery.” Speaking in his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama said, “I will sign this legislation into law shortly, and we’ll begin making the immediate investments [...] Read more – ‘Day 24: Stimulus bill passed, Obama celebrates’.
The House has passed the $787 billion plan to resuscitate the economy, handing President Barack Obama a big victory. It’s an imposing eight inch thick mass of tax cuts and government spendings. Obama wasn’t completely overjoyed though, as it seems he had to make some actual diplomatic compromises, and the opposition is fierce; calling it [...] Read more – ‘Day 23: House passes $787 billion plan’.
We here at at WIOB are constantly scouring the internet for information about Obama’s day-to-day activities. President Obama, we are told, usually arrives in the Oval Office a little before 9 a.m., some two hours later than his predecessor, George W. Bush. This enables him to read the newspapers before coming to work (as F.D.R. [...] Read more – ‘Day 23: This morning, Obama got into the office at 9am EST.’.
The official white house blog has released a comment about the awkward quitting of yet another cabinet pick. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs released the following statement: Senator Gregg reached out to the President and offered his name for Secretary of Commerce. He was very clear throughout the interviewing process that despite past disagreements about policies, he [...] Read more – ‘Day 23: White house comments Gregg’.
Republican US Senator Judd Gregg is withdrawing as President Barack Obama’s nominee for commerce secretary. He said he had found there were “irresolvable conflicts” on issues including Mr Obama’s economic stimulus package and the country’s census. He has already lost four nominees for senior posts. Tom Daschle, who was to become the new secretary of [...] Read more – ‘Day 22: Another Obama cabinet pick quits’.
We would like to extend a warm welcome to Paul, our new contributor to the site! He is amongst other things a former writer for brainshrub.com. Read more – ‘Welcome our new author!’.
Obama met with conservative “Blue Dog” congressional Democrats today. For readers outside the US: A “Blue Dog” is someone who is affiliated with the democratic party – but votes conservative. I know that sounds odd – but we don’t have 3rd parties here. Many argue we don’t have two – but that’s a discussion for [...] Read more – ‘Day 22: Obama meets with conservative “Blue Dog” congressional Dems’.
Pot smokers in Seattle, WA may have to wave a fond, hazy, farewell to their Police Chief: Gil Kerlikowske. Apparently, Obama plans to recruit him to head up the war on certain drugs. Kerlikowske, who has led the department for more than eight years, has told the department’s top commanders he expects to leave to [...] Read more – ‘Day 21: Obama considers Seattle police chief to head so-called “Drug War”.’.
Yesterday, lawmakers approved $838 billion plan on 61-37 vote, setting stage for what could be difficult negotiations to reconcile House and Senate versions. Story on MSNBC Read more – ‘Day 21: Senate OK’s stimulus plan’.
The Obama administration has started a security review to see how well government spooks stands up to hacker threats: A review of how well the US thwarts spies and malicious hackers has been started by President Barack Obama. The wide-ranging review is set to last 60 days and takes in all the “plans, programs and [...] Read more – ‘Day 20: Obama is looking out for hackers on the web’.
Obama renewed his call for direct US dialogue with Iran, saying he hoped to create the conditions to “start sitting across the table, face to face” in the coming months. “I think there’s the possibility, at least, of a relationship of mutual respect and progress,” Obama said at the first press conference of his young [...] Read more – ‘Day 20: New Iran stance, Afghanistan timetable, breaking pledge’.
President Barack Obama pressed Congress Monday night to urgently approve a massive economic recovery bill, using the first prime-time news conference of his presidency to warn that a failure to act; “could turn a crisis into a catastrophe.” He took his case for an $800 billion economic recovery package to one of the most distressed [...] Read more – ‘Day 20: Economic Recovery Bill moves forward’.
President explains desire to close Gitmo, promises justice for loved ones. President Barack Obama met Friday with relatives of victims of the bombing of the USS Cole and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, telling them he wants the same thing they do — justice for their loved ones. In the hour-long session with roughly 40 [...] Read more – ‘Day 18: Obama meets with 9/11, Cole victims’ families’.
Vote looms on $827 billion proposal after three Republicans break ranks. With job losses soaring nationwide, Senate Democrats reached agreement with a small group of Republicans Friday night on an economic stimulus measure at the heart of President Barack Obama’s plan for combatting the worst recession in decades. “The American people want us to work [...] Read more – ‘Day 17: Pared-down stimulus deal reached in Senate’.
Senate Democrats reached an agreement with Republican moderates on Friday to pare a huge economic recovery measure, clearing the way for approval of a package that President Obama said was urgently needed in light of mounting job losses. The deal, announced on the Senate floor, was a result of two days of tense negotiations and [...] Read more – ‘Day 16: Senators Reach Accord on Stimulus Plan as Jobs Vanish’.
Whatisobamadoing is looking for help keeping the content going! If you are politically interested, have a talent for keeping up to date with current events and master the english language well we would love to hear from you! We don’t require you to post daily, you will join our staff (currently two) and help us [...] Read more – ‘Editors wanted’.
Two Silicon Valley leaders have been appointed by President Obama to a 16-person committee that’s charged with offering economic advice during what has become an unusually sharp and deep recession. John Doerr, the billionaire venture capitalist at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, is one. Doerr was involved in funding companies including Google, Amazon.com, Sun Microsystems, [...] Read more – ‘Day 16: Appoints Silicon Valley profiles to committee’.
In announcing executive pay limits on Wednesday, President Obama is trying to hold the financial industry accountable to taxpayers while aiming to change an entrenched corporate culture that endorses outsize bonuses and perks that often bear little relationship to corporate performance. Story on NYTimes Read more – ‘Day 15: Executive Pay limits’.
The House gave final approval on Wednesday to a bill extending health insurance to millions of low-income children, and President Obama signed it this afternoon, in the first of what he hopes will be many steps to guarantee coverage for all Americans. Story on NYTimes Read more – ‘Day 15: Obama Signs Children’s Health Insurance Bill’.
This might not have been one of the healthcare problems Mr Obama was prepared for: Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination as secretary of health and human services on Tuesday after weathering four days of scrutiny over unpaid taxes, prompting President Obama to concede having “screwed up” in undermining his own ethical standards by pushing the [...] Read more – ‘Day 14: Healthcare problems’.
The Obama administration is expected to impose a cap of $500,000 for top executives at companies that receive large amounts of bailout money, according to people familiar with the plan. Executives would also be prohibited from receiving any bonuses above their base pay, except for normal stock dividends. … “That is pretty draconian — $500,000 [...] Read more – ‘Day 14: Plans to put a limit on executives’ pay and bonuses’.
We’re experiencing difficulties controlling the time space continuum at the moment (or are worthless using our calendars, whichever sounds better) but fear not; Obama news will resume again tomorrow like clockwork! Read more – ‘Short recess’.
A White House representative has inofficially confirmed that President Obama is going to pick republican senator Judd Gregg as his nominee for Secretary of Commerce. If the senator accepts the nomination and is confirmed, he will be the third Republican appointee in Mr. Obama’s cabinet, after , after Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, who [...] Read more – ‘Day 11: Obama to pick Republican senator for commerce post’.
President Barack Obama promised Saturday to help lower Americans’ mortgage costs with a new plan, coming soon, that would revive the financial system and “get credit flowing again.” … “Soon my Treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, will announce a new strategy for reviving our financial system that gets credit flowing to businesses and families,” Obama, a [...] Read more – ‘Day 11: Pledges Mortgage Help’.
President Obama branded Wall Street bankers “shameful” on Thursday for giving themselves nearly $20 billion in bonuses as the economy was deteriorating and the government was spending billions to bail out some of the nation’s most prominent financial institutions. “There will be time for them to make profits, and there will be time for them [...] Read more – ‘Day 10: Pressures Wall Street and reverses labor policies’.
President Obama signed his first bill into law on Thursday, approving the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a law named for Ms. Ledbetter, fourth from left, an Alabama woman who at the end of a 19-year career as a supervisor in a tire factory complained that she had been paid less than men. he said [...] Read more – ‘Day 9: Obama Signs Equal-Pay Legislation’.
In a swift victory for President Barack Obama, the Democratic-controlled House approved a historically huge $819 billion stimulus bill Wednesday night with spending increases and tax cuts at the heart of the young administration’s plan to revive a badly ailing economy. The White House-backed legislation includes an estimated $544 billion in federal spending and $275 [...] Read more – ‘Day 9: Breaking! House passes Obama economic stimulus plan’.
On January 29, 2009, with the new law’s namesake Lilly Ledbetter there to witness, President Obama signed into law the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act — legislation to fight pay discrimination and ensure fundamental fairness to American workers. Read more – ‘Day 10: President Obama Signs the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act’.
Declaring that “we don’t have a moment to spare,” President Obama on Wednesday pushed hard for passage of his economic stimulus plan, promising that it would be not just enormous in scope but run with a transparency and accountability not always associated with huge Washington projects. Story on NYTimes Looking beyond expected House approval of [...] Read more – ‘Day 8: Stimulus plan and Iraq withdrawal’.
A Senate panel approved major portions of the Democrats’ “stimulus” bill on Tuesday over objections from Republicans that debate had been squelched and not even one hearing had been held on the topic. The appropriations bill also allocates approximately $49 billion in spending on energy provisions, including $40 billion going through the Department of Energy. [...] Read more – ‘Day 7: $49 billion energy ‘stimulus’ plan gets an OK’.
President Barack Obama presented a humble and conciliatory face of America to the Islamic world Monday in the first formal interview since he assumed office, stressing his own Muslim ties and hopes for a Palestinian state, and avoiding a belligerent tone — even when asked if America could “live with” an Iranian nuclear weapon. Story [...] Read more – ‘Day 7: Obamas first interview – tells muslim world “America is not your enemy”’.
The administration today placed a phone call to Citibank, who received $45 billion in goverment bailout, about their plans to buy a new $50 million corporate jet. They were told to “fix it”. The New York Post’s Jennifer Keil and Chuck Bennett reported in Monday’s paper that Citigroup, which has received $45 billion in government [...] Read more – ‘Day 7: Citibank are told to stop insane spending’.
When the Obama administration delved into the Guantanamo legal cases to prepare for the shutdown, they find that there doesn’t seem to be any real case files about them anywhere. President Obama’s plans to expeditiously determine the fates of about 245 terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and quickly close the military prison there [...] Read more – ‘Day 6: Finds there are no files for Guantanamo detainees’.
Fourteen states will be able to mandate greater auto fuel efficiency than the federal government requires under a plan that President Obama will announce on Monday, a senior administration official said. Obama will do so by directing the Environmental Protection Agency to grant a waiver for the states to allow them to set their own [...] Read more – ‘Day 6: Obama to let states set auto emission rules’.
Obamas weekly adress (youtube) Obama To Launch Website For Tracking Tax Expenditures internationalflights tips news that Barack Obama, in his first weekly address as President, has mentioned plans to set up a website for tracking “how and where we spend taxpayer dollars.” Details about the website, Recovery.gov, are available within the American Recovery and Reinvestment [...] Read more – ‘Day 5: Weekly adress, new expenditure website’.
The Obama administration plans to move quickly to tighten the nation’s financial regulatory system. Officials say they will make wide-ranging changes, including stricter federal rules for hedge funds, credit rating agencies and mortgage brokers, and greater oversight of the complex financial instruments that contributed to the economic crisis. Broad new outlines of the administration’s agenda [...] Read more – ‘Day 4: Obama Plans Fast Action to Tighten Financial Rules’.
The Obama administration urged a federal judge on Friday to stay enforcement of a ruling favoring the plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging President George W. Bush’s warrantless eavesdropping program. Story on Wired Read more – ‘Day 3: Wiretapping Legal Challenge’.
President Barack Obama plans to sign an executive order ending the ban on federal funds for international groups that promote or perform abortions, officials told The Associated Press on Friday. Story on USA Today Read more – ‘Day 3: Obama to reverse abortion policy’.
The House Ways and Means Committee has approved $275 billion in tax cuts The House Energy and Commerce Committee late Thursday approved a $2.8 billion program that would expand broadband service into underserved areas. It also approved various programs costing an estimated $27 billion to promote energy efficiency. On a key vote Democrats preserved a [...] Read more – ‘Day 3: Congress gets busy’.
Just hours after the bans over torture and closure of Guantanamo, Obama urged Israel on Thursday to open its borders with Gaza. This to make sure aid can reach innocent palestinians. He adds that they need food, clean water, medical aid and have been living in abject poverty for far too long. He also proclaimed [...] Read more – ‘Day 2: First move on Gaza’.
It should come as a surprise to nobody that one of the first orders from the new preident is to order the closure of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, and that so called “harsh interrogation techniques” (ie: torture) are banned. All overseas CIA prisons where suspected terrorists are held are also to be shut down. [...] Read more – ‘Day 2: Orders Guantanamo closed, bans torture’.
Releases an executive order to overturn Bush Jr’s added secrecy of presidential records. Link to the order on whitehouse.gov Short summary: after Richard Nixon’s unpleasant presidency, Congress took steps to open up the office of the President a little bit. Records were to be withheld for 12 years and then generally disclosed to the public, [...] Read more – ‘Day 2: Increasing transparency’.
Obama starts his first day in office like follows: Before he even leaves home he halts the military tribunal processes at Guantánamo Bay. As soon as he gets in he phones several arab leaders, namely the leaders of Egypt (Hosni Mubarak), Israel (Ehud Olmert), Jordan (King Hussein) and the palestinian Fatah party (Mahmoud Abbas). He [...] Read more – ‘Day 1: Off to a running start’.
A new chapter in world history opens. We hope Barack fulfills at least a smidget of the high hopes placed on his shoulders. Obama inauguration speech on youtube: Also: In his first official act since taking the oath of office, President Barack Obama issued a proclamation, calling on Americans to serve one another and our [...] Read more – ‘Day 0: Inauguration speech’.
