Tuesday marked our one-week anniversary with President Barack Obama, and isn’t the early part of the relationship always the best? No one has run out of things to say yet, and we’re still in that cute phase where we can’t keep our hands off each other. The media is still enthralled with every little thing our new president does, and our new president is still attentive and listening to our needs.
But it’s not all movie dates and heart-shaped boxes of chocolate anymore. We’re done with courtship, done with dating, and we’ve flushed out our need for just a rebound president. This is a committed relationship here, and after our latest, ugly breakup, we need to make sure we’re not blinded by excitement and expectations.
Obama is not making it easy for us to put our excitement in check. For the most part, he’s hit the ground running on the things he said he would.
In his first week, Obama was no slouch. He addressed issues that he promised he would and, what’s more, he’s done it with the level of involvement and transparency that he championed throughout his candidacy.
As stated on WhiteHouse.gov, it is Obama’s pledge to make his administration “the most transparent and accountable administration in American history.” And by the look of things so far, he’s putting in considerable effort to do this. One of his first actions as president was to issue new guidelines concerning the Freedom of Information Act to the entire executive branch, stating that “all agencies should use modern technology to inform citizens about what is known and done by their Government. Disclosure should be timely.”
Obama’s efforts concerning global politics and foreign relations are one example of this. Not only did Obama specifically address the Muslim world in the first week of his administration, but he actually gave his first interview as president to a Dubai-based news network called Al-Arabiya. The interview is receiving praise from all sides of the political spectrum, and rightfully so. It is the kind of direct diplomacy that Obama said he would employ. Obama moved quickly to show that his administration would be different from Bush’s when it comes to relations with the Middle East, saying, “My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy.”
Obama’s initial moves concerning environmental issues show that he will be making drastic departures from past policies. On Tuesday, the president allowed for states such as California and several others to set higher emissions standards for motor vehicles, and also to ensure that the federal emissions standards are raised by 2011.
While it’s still a bit early to get too congratulatory, it’s difficult not to bask in this honeymoon stage. Obama will be late for some dinners, he will forget to take out the trash, and he will want to forgo yard work to watch the game on Sundays. But this whole “keeping promises” thing is an inspiring trend. After having a president who did so little on anything that wasn’t Iraq for the past several years, having one who addresses a range of issues is refreshing.
And promises have been kept right and left. He said he’d sign an executive order to close Guantanamo Bay, and he has started the review process. He said he’d work as a bipartisan leader, and after holding an exclusive meeting Tuesday with GOP House leaders about the stimulus bill passed on Wednesday, it seems he’s trying to follow through despite opposition.
But there are still plenty of promises to follow up on. He promised tax cuts to 95 percent of us. He promised the LGBT community he would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and work toward nullifying “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” He promised to make health care affordable for everyone. He promised more funding for scientific research. He promised education reform.
Obama has written a very long laundry list for himself, and while it will take more than a week and a half to see how he does on his follow through, he’s off to a decent start. There’s no telling what sort of setbacks this relationship might encounter, but at least we know we’ve got a leader with some initiative.
If this first week has swept you off your feet, then e-mail Stoll at rstoll@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.