This truly is a new era. I’m once again eager to hear news of what the President is doing. I no longer dread sentences that begin with “The President presented a new piece of legislation…” This economic recession still worries the pants off of me, but there’s a kernel of hope in all that worry that occasionally makes me smile. I feel like we’re moving forward.
So, let’s talk about what Obama’s done so far. I was very pleased that he froze the salaries of his staff making more than $100,000 a year. It was a symbolic gesture, really, since it does nothing to actually alleviate the common person’s woes, but it was a good symbol nonetheless and on the first day in office, symbols are pretty much the order of the day.
He also put limits on lobbyists being able to get jobs in the White House to try and get contacts, then just leaving to go back to their companies. Once again, this was a symbol, since it only cuts a bit into lobbyist’s powers, but it was also a nice one. Both of these say to me that Obama is committed to making sacrifices for progress (he certainly can’t raise his own salary now, either) and not allowing big corporation to run the show. Both are very important towards where we’re going.
Another measure that he passed that is exciting is the order to close Guantanamo Bay Detention Center within one year. Pundits all over the place criticized that one for being too hasty and not being well-thought out. “What will we do with the prisoners?” they cry. Or my favorite: “Just let the military tribunals do their work!” However, I think it was a bold move and one that shows not just America, but the entire world that we’re committed to changing the way we’ve done things. The atrocities of Guantanamo Bay have severely hurt our moral standing as a country and we need to send a message that that is NOT what we stand for or condone.
The economic stimulus plan is exciting because it has a lot of funding for alternative energy infrastructure and energy-saving techniques. There are a few details about it that I’m not sure of, but all in all I think it’s vastly better than anything the Bush administration came up with. However, we’ll have to wait and see if it’ll pass and then if it’ll work.
What I’m especially excited about is that Obama has told the EPA to reconsider allowing the states to regulate their own fuel economy and emission standards. Under the Bush administration, the states had to go to court to have this ruled on when the EPA denied them, and now the states like California and Vermont can raise fuel standards, hopefully as a testing ground for national standards of similar type.
All in all, I’m pretty excited about what Obama’s been doing so far, I just hope he keeps it up. I’ll admit that I’m holding my breath and hoping that he keeps up the good momentum and keeps having the support of the Congress and the American people.
