Obama Tidbits

[marcusmarcusrc]

Good things:
The Mexico City Gag Rule is gone
Guantanamo is on its (long, drawn-out) way to being closed
Peter Orszag has been confirmed as OMB head. He has written a number of thoughtful climate change pieces: he likes the idea of floors + ceilings for cap-and-trade policies (he'd probably be happy with a tax, too). And OMB is really important.
Science and energy and climate and transparency and _statistics_ all making it into the inauguration speech. Also, the acknowledgment that markets can be a powerful force for good but need a watchful eye.
Nominating a Presidential Science Advisor before June 26th (unlike the last administration: Marburger wasn't even confirmed until October! And word on the street is that he almost never spoke directly with Bush). In general, it seems to be an organized appointment process choosing competent people and getting ready to get work done as soon as possible.
The photos of Bush and Cheney are gone from my building (though apparently the early birds on Wednesday were disappointed to see the photos still there at 8 am)

Mediocre things:
Vilsack as Secretary of Agriculture: that says "ethanol fuels" and "big agriculture" to me, and I think that we need to move past both (I liked Pollan's "Farmer in Chief" editorial).
Ray LaHood as Secretary of Transport: again, I think we need changes here in how we think about transport, and I don't know if this is the man.
In both cases, if Obama has strong leadership on these issues, I think they may be fine appointments, but I don't see them leading the way. (same with his staff of economists, who all seem quite competent but may need reminding of the bigger, GDP isn't everything picture every so often).
The new photos of Obama and Biden weren't up yet last time I looked. I'm hoping for tomorrow morning.
I was also not sure about "raging storms" in the inauguration speech - that seemed to be overselling our current problems (though I guess we'll see).

In all I'm quite happy so far. Keeping my fingers crossed that he can fulfill a reasonable portion of our outsized expectations for him.

Comments

[tirinian.livejournal.com]

Given that I think at least part of his plan is to actually ask The American People to do some sacrificing, which Bush never really got around to doing, making the problems look as bad as plausible is one of the things he wants to do.

[puffy-wuffy.livejournal.com]

I'm doing a little dance right now!

I did little dances when these things popped up, but seeing them summed up makes me do another dance!