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I Must say, My Hat's Off To Barack Obama
by James Glaser January 23, 2009 Politicians running for office make all sorts of promises, and usually many of those promises are forgotten when they get elected. However, Barack Obama is already making good on some of his. Yesterday, President Obama signed an executive order that will shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, and he signed other orders that will stop the American government from torturing prisoners and shut down the CIA's secret prisons around the world. On day one of his presidency, Obama directed our military leaders to end the war in Iraq, tightened up rules about lobbyists, and rescinded George Bush's order that kept the papers of former presidents secret. I like everything Barack Obama has done so far, and I hope he continues to keep his promises. By the way, Obama made over 500 promises while he was campaigning. If you like, you can check out his progress on keeping them. The St. Petersburg Times has a page devoted to just that. Now remember, President Obama is a politician. So, just because he signed an order to do something, does mean that he will follow through and enforce the rule change. I hope I can take the man at his word, but past politicians have made me pretty cynical. I will watch and see if "change" in Washington really will occur. |
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