Hit The Ground Running

During the latter part of the campaign, and all through the transition period, Barack Obama promised to “hit the ground running” on Day 1 of his presidency. So far, he has shown himself to be a man of his word. In the first week of his presidency, he has:

- Issued an order to a close the terrorist prison at Guantanamo ― transition plan to be worked out;
- Approved individual states to require higher mpg ratings on cars – finally truly calling the automobile pollution question in spite of the inevitable doomsdayers;
- Reestablished long-standing rules for interrogation including a no-torture commitment – back to the rule of international law and agreements;
- Presented an $850B economic stimulus plan – a strong reaction to a real need, but risky over the potential for more Christmas tree spending;
- Requested the release of the 2nd half of the TARP financial industry bailout money – with promises of newer and stronger controls and oversight (controls that are certainly needed);
- Appointed highly qualified high-level special envoys to the Middle East and to Afghanistan – who are already on the ground working;
- Gave his first official post-inaugural interview to a Saudi Arabian television station – a first to open that essential dialog (as Nixon was to China, could Obama be to the Middle east?);
- Approved funding for international organizations that include abortion in their birth control practices – attempting to take the politics out of health science;
- Gave the order to military leaders to plan for withdrawal from Iraq – detailed plan to come;
- gave the order to increase troop deployment in Afghanistan where the real terrorist war began but has not ended – troops hopefully to be used more wisely than we did in Iraq;
- Reinvigorated the State Department and the role of diplomacy – hopefully an end to arrogant, cowboy, shoot-first diplomacy;
- Signed his first legislative bill guaranteeing equal pay for equal work – long overdue and unarguable;
- Established a new Code of Ethics for the Executive Branch – the first application aimed at unethical and illegal activities at the Department of Interior during the past few years.

As respected CNN commentator David Gergen said recently, “All of these back-to-back initiatives reflect a huge ambition to remake America, if not the world.” Remake it to exactly where, we do not yet clearly know. But as the old joke says, “I don’t know where we’re going, but we’re sure making great time!”

A 66% public approval rating thus far notwithstanding, I expect it will be a pretty short political honeymoon for President Obama. A “0” vote of House Republicans on the $850B stimulus bill does not bode well for the bi-partisanship we all need, even if some of their complaints were justified. The partisan left is already complaining that their agenda has not been accomplished yet (after 1 week!); the partisan right is already pointing to the first chunks of sky falling to the ground. Fox News is absolutely adrift at sea and more irrelevant than ever, still paying homage to G.W. Bush and looking for conspiracies and evil headlines behind every Democratic door. Rush Limbaugh gave up his last shred of decency when he openly said that he “Wants Obama to fail.” In my worst days of frustration and disagreement with George W., I never hoped he would fail. Because any president’s failure is a failure for us all.

Yes, the devil is in the details. And the Choir of the Church of the Hyper-Negative is already complaining that Obama’s actions are “all symbolism and no details.” Truth is, I do not want details from Obama. That is why a President has an executive White House team and a whole Executive Branch of government (which still includes the Vice President, Dick Cheney’s opinion notwithstanding!). That is where the planning details will come from, with the execution details from thousands of government foot soldiers. What I want from my President is clarity about and commitment to the directions, goals, overall strategies, principles, and ground-rules to be followed. If we can get together on these, we will move forward in spite of many natural disagreements on the specifics and the minutiae. I could never get together with Bush on the strategies, so Guantanamo, Iraq, illegal surveillance, and disregard for constitutional law were just the ugly specifics to fundamental disagreements. And his foot soldiers were running all over everywhere without unifying principles to hold them together. In recent memory, and notwithstanding your personal political persuasions, only John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton really understood the role of presidential leadership and articulated well the leadership of principles. (And only Clinton was able to successfully combine mastery of detail with leadership.)

So one week gone of an Obama presidency. 207 more weeks to go in this term. Given the fundamental assault on the status quo that is emerging, it looks like it is going to be a hell of a ride, with lots to talk about for and against. I may have to increase the frequency of these blog postings just to keep up and be topically relevant and timely. That may be the worst news of all for both you and me.

In the end, hopefully we will not only have made great time, but we will also know where we are truly going. So far, it seems to be a better place that we’ve been, even if there are a few cracks in the new home’s woodwork.