TheAgitator.com
Yes, He Did
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009Credit where it’s due: Well done, Mr. Obama. I’m sure we’ll have our differences, but afer your first 40+ hours on the job, this libertarian couldn’t be happier.
The tally:
“For a long time now there has been too much secrecy in this city. The old rules said that if there was a defensible argument for not disclosing something to the American people, then it should not be disclosed. That era is now over. Starting today, every agency and department should know that this administration stands on the side not of those who seek to withhold information, but those who seek to make it known.
The mere fact that you have the legal power to keep something secret does not mean you should use it. The Freedom of Information Act is perhaps the most powerful instrument we have for making our government honest and transparent and holding it accountable. I expect my administration not only to live up to the letter but the spirit of this law.”
Yes, it’s only been one day. But this is mighty impressive. Obama’s top priority upon taking office was to sign orders rolling back his predecessor’s expansion of executive power. Put another way, Obama’s top priority upon taking office was to institute limits on his own power.
That’s something even a cynic like me can celebrate.
” Well done, Mr. Obama. I’m sure we’ll have our differences, but afer your first 40+ hours on the job, this libertarian couldn’t be happier.”
Ditto. I agree completely.
Hear hear!
A good start.
I heard his first executive order was to stop all pending Bush executive orders. Sadly, the ones already implemented will be much harder, and require congress, to repeal.
That said, does anyone know if that horrible religious privilege order was stopped by that or was it too late? You know the one where you can’t refuse to hire a medical/pharma employee or fire them for refusing to do their job on religious grounds?
I have to admit that I was skeptical of Obama and the praise heaped on him by other libertarians. However, these are all steps in the right direction. These are very big. I think it takes a lot of humility to be able to limit powers given to you.
Actually, the Bush rules don’t require Congress to overrule them, though Congress does have that power. Obama’s appointees can repeal, change or override them, but it does take time because of notice requirements, mandatory cost-benefit analysis and other, similar things.
And yet people on CNN were getting all huffy this morning because he didn’t allow video cameras in to record his do-over of the oath with Roberts last night. Thank goodness they’re keeping his feet to the fire on the important stuff.
And right after this, here come the gun bans.
I’m happy about all those things, but I am still bristling over his notion that the debate regarding the size and scope of the federal government is no longer relevant. But, I suppose until he actually goes out and makes government bigger, it’s safe to celebrate these small victories for a bit.
Did he sign any orders requiring himself to fully disclose his relationships with Rezko and the other slimy people of the most corrupt political environment in America (ie, Illinois politics)?
Na, didn’t think so.
We got some lobbying reform yesterday as well. :-)
Never was a supporter of Obama and we’ll probably disagree a lot, but have to give him major props for these measures. Good job.
“I suppose until he actually goes out and makes government bigger”
He has pledged to review many programs and get rid of the ones that r bloated, inefficient, and otherwise do not work.
I found his speech was terribly Socialist, but at least his actions so far are good…let’s review again in 180 days or so…
These changes are definitely welcome.
I’m waiting to see how he distributes the $800 billion, though. So far I have not heard of any coherent plan that makes me think the handouts will do anything for the economy except put us more in debt when we come out the other side.
Personally, I think “shovel-ready” for government means they are ready to start thinking about planning to contact a contractor and start the paperwork process to move the project toward a definite start date to be determined by the approval process and sign-offs of the appropriate financial, environmental, and utility departments, not to mention the requisite Federal agencies.
Most localities begging for bailout funds aren’t interested in infrastructure. They’re interested in getting their hands on the cash to keep from having to declare bankruptcy, default on a loan, or just to meet payroll.
Mostly, I expect the bailout money to be distributed, like most pork, on a squeaky wheel basis, with members of Congress being the wheels.
Despite any rhetoric to the contrary, if there’s one thing that doesn’t come into play when Congress spends money, it’s whether that spending is good for the country.
I’m hoping Obama will prove me wrong.
Let’s hope he keeps this sort of thing up. I know I am going to disagree with many things he does (hell, there is not a candidate in either party with the faintest hope of getting elected that I could agree with on most, or even many, things), but it is nice to see him starting off doing the good things that he promised.
Ok, I admit, and I hate to say it – that’s change I can believe in.
For years, I have been saying “a libertarian candidate is the only candidate that would limit his own power on day 1.” If I had known and believed he would do this, I may have even voted for him. I would have thrown my vote away for a lesser statement than this.
I retract a lot of what I said about Obama and McCain being EXACTLY the same – McCain would not have done this.
Thanks Radley, for letting me use your blog as my mea culpa.
I need a lot more in order to get happy about the next four years. My cynicism runs deep.
Are we actually going to see the return of the Liberty Meter — moving in the opposite direction?
Whee! Lots of stuff that feels good, but probably won’t amount to much.
For example: What does he plan to do with all of the detainees (POWs, whatever) at Gitmo? And what sort of message does this send to the Taliban & Al-Qaeda?
“Whee! Lots of stuff that feels good, but probably won’t amount to much.”
What i saw yesterday went a lot further than “feels good”. This was “actually good”.
I also applaud his actions so far.
Unfortunately, I read his entire Agenda on whitehouse.gov yesterday – I copied & pasted everything into a 56-page document that could serve as hardcore porn for hardcore leftists.
My only hope at this point is that his campaign promises work out as well as Bush’s – remember “humble foreign policy” and “no nation-building”?
But I will say “Bravo” for these limits on executive power. The “Ethics” section of his agenda was the only piece of sanity in there.
[...] should be clear that I am no fan of Obama. But I’m with Radley and, generally, approve this list of things he’s done in the first bit. Except the suspending Gitmo trials thing. After all, [...]
I’m at least glad we’ll be living in Obama’s welfare state instead of McCain’s police state.
Just to hear that kind of “open government” talk is refreshing change from the “none of your damn business” position of the Cheney/Bush policy.
Celebrating While I Can…
Barack Obama’s first two days in office have been surprisingly devoted to scaling back the authority of government, including that of the president. I know, I know, the National Service thing is coming, and if there is any way he can socialize medicin…
[...] but Obama’s baby-steps out of the gate were promising as Radley Balko points out over at theAgitator.com [...]
Still no word on when Congress will be subject to FOIA? From what I read, Congress is exempted. It would really be nice to see some of *those* documents (emails sent back and forth), what lobbyists are really saying, what Congressmen are really getting…
“That’s something even a cynic like me can celebrate.”
Trademark infringement!
You’re not a cynic anyway, Radley. You’re an optimist.
[...] Balko is happy with Pres. Obama’s performance so [...]
Is “shovel-ready” not the perfect term to illustrate the bullshit that is government?
Guarded optimism — I will be honest and admit that the news from Obama is a step in the right direction, though the goal remains thousands of miles away. I am adopting a “wait-and-see” attitude, with a “what have you done for freedom lately” clause that kicks in fresh EVERY SINGLE DAY.
It appears that Obama has just closed Gitmo.
I am beginning to wonder just how much change the establishment is willing to tolerate.
Is Obama an exit strategy for the ruling class’ messier entanglements or is he off the reservation?
Kudos to Obama…so far.
Geesh people, give the man a chance. He’s only been the big cheese for a couple of days.
Since he ‘talked to the talk’, let’s see if he can ‘walk the walk’.
I think he’s gonna to just fine.
That should have read ‘to do just fine’.
Can’t be any worse than what we’ve had the past 8 years.
He’s young, energetic and has a good head on his shoulders.
I am all for a black president. I am white.
But why does everyone refer to him as the 1st black prez?
He’s as much white as he is black.
It’s not a race thing anyway. It’s rather or not HE is the best person for the job.
I believe he IS!
I can think of two prior examples in American history of a president taking it upon himself to ratchet back the coercive power claimed by the federal government: Jefferson voiding the Alien and Sedition Acts, and Harding rolling back Wilson administration civil laws abuses. Any other cases? (Abolition and 60s-era civil rights victories, though monumental victories for freedom, aren’t examples of the federal government divesting itself of its own claimed powers.)
So this is a real historical rarity, and unique in the modern presidency. Granted, that’s partly a reflection of how bad recent decades have been in terms of consolidating executive power, and partly that’s a testament to the abnormality of the Bush presidency even in the post-National Security Act/ post-War Powers Act era. But still, well done Mr. Obama.
You guys are awful easy to please. He hasn’t actually done anything but, by god, we’re all on board aren’t we? I think this is part of the whole “Listen to how well he enunciates, he’s an obvious genius” kind of logic. Palin is a ‘tard because she speaks clearly while dropping her g’s and obama is a genius because he uses 30 words strung together with $5 adjectives to say “umm, I don’t really know”. yeah, I’ll buy that.
1. in order to classify something as covered by executive privilege he has to get 2 guys who answer solely to him to sign off on it first. Boy, that’s gonna be one tough obstacle to overcome.
2. FOIA: The wapo writer at least honestly mentions:
Just saying he’s going to try to do better has you guys in a love tizzy, maybe we should actually wait to see what he actually does.
3. He’s going to save us millions in staff payroll, while spending billions increasing he size of government and has practically guaranteed to double the deficit within his first term thanks to the “stimulus” package. Doesn’t really sound like a very good trade off.
4. Its gone from “he’s going to close gitmo on day one” to “closed within the year” to “maybe during my first term”….I’d keep waiting for the other shoe to drop before I jump on that bandwagon.
Palin is a ‘tard because she speaks clearly while dropping her g’s
Clear as north slope crude:
“As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right next to, they are right next to our state.”
And what sort of message does this send to the Taliban & Al-Qaeda?
I think the message is, “We’re not so pants-shittingly frightened of you brain-dead barbarians that we feel we have to abandon centuries-old notions of due process to feel safe.”
Palin is a ‘tard because she speaks clearly while dropping her g’s and obama is a genius because he uses 30 words strung together with $5 adjectives to say “umm, I don’t really know”.
No, no. Palin is a ‘tard because she said so many really stupid things; not philosophies one might disagree with, but just plain stupid things.
“He has pledged to review many programs and get rid of the ones that r bloated, inefficient, and otherwise do not work.”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I swear, it feels like everyone around me is under some form of mass hypnosis.
“Even better, he’s requiring the signature of both his White House counsel and the attorney general before he can classify a document under executive privilege. ”
Heh. So his subordinates have to say yes to… their boss? Call me a cynic, but I don’t see Holder putting up much of a fuss if The One wants something classified.
As someone already pointed out, these amount it gassy PR moves. I see nothing here that amounts to much in practice.
The executive orders shutting down the torture regime and opening up the executive branch to public scrutiny are already drafted and signed or about to be, AND also, there are a half dozen or so very prominent civil libertarians par-excellence who’ve been appointed to oversee all this. Faith in Obama is irrelevant. I have faith in Marty Lederman.
“But why does everyone refer to him as the 1st black prez? He’s as much white as he is black.”
The same reason Tiger Woods was hailed as the first black player to win The Masters, when Woods is 1/2 Thai, 1/4 black, 1/4 white. Race is a talisman in America.
On further review, I must amend my guarded optimism back to guarded skepticism as I now understand that Guantanamo Bay prison will not close for at least a year.
“That’s something even a closet liberal like me can celebrate.”
Fixed it for you, Balko.
Hope and Change!
“And right after this, here come the gun bans.”
Stop pointing out inconvenient facts, RWW. You’re harshing everyone’s mellow.
““He has pledged to review many programs and get rid of the ones that r bloated, inefficient, and otherwise do not work.”
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
That well thought out response to my post has really convinced me to change my position. It was so profound. WTH was i thinkin’?
He also made a rule stating that if you want to leave his administration to become a lobbyist, you have to wait until he leaves office.
Classy. I’m impressed by his first policy statements as well, although I think he’s just greasing us all up for what’s to come.
Obviously he can’t just instantly close Gitmo. It’s full of, you know, naughty persons. Have to figure out what to do with them first, get through all the legal and logistical issues. Six months would be nicer, but we’re talking about the Government here. And I would like Obama to take his time studying this issue so he can take wise rather than precipitate action.
Much as I don’t give a rat’s ass about those inmates or their civil rights, I think closing Gitmo is the right thing to do. For starters, most people think of it as an American concentration camp. I know the reality may not be that bad, but the image is whatever people want it to be. And also, from a management standpoint I hate the idea of just warehousing these men because a) they’re too dangerous to let run around and b) we don’t know what else to do with them. I think that shows weakness in itself. A decisive leader would have resolved this contentious issue rather than deferring it indefinitely. Bush could have spared himself and the country a lot of pain.
Good……maybe now we can find out what really happened at Roswell……..and who killed Kennedy……..
You guys are awful easy to please. He hasn’t actually done anything but, by god, we’re all on board aren’t we?
I swear, it feels like everyone around me is under some form of mass hypnosis.
This.
That should be “these,” since the quotes came from two different commenters.
[...] Full Story: The Agitator [...]
Well, now if he can just keep it up for the next 1458 days, we’re good.
Not to continue pissing on everyone’s parade, but in order to get around that ban all you have to do is get a waiver from Obama. Would you be surprised to learn the ban lasted all of maybe 20 hours?
http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2009/01/obama_lobbying_ban_hits_realit.html
“For example: What does he plan to do with all of the detainees (POWs, whatever) at Gitmo? And what sort of message does this send to the Taliban & Al-Qaeda?”
Gitmo sends the message that Al Qaeda are dangerous supermen who are such a threat they need to be kept at a military base outside US territory.
That does us no favors and boosts their reputation. It would be far better if they were treated more like, say, the Unabomber or Charles Manson.
Judi wrote: “He’s as much white as he is black.”
What, is that stamped on his forehead? What would you think if you’d never seen Obama before or heard of his parentage?
It’s the cabdriver test. What race would a cabdriver see if Obama, in casual clothes, tried to get a ride?
[...] Yes, He Did: [...]
His skin is dark and his hair’s all frizzy. Can we stop talking about this?
“Obama rescinded Bush’s 2001 executive order allowing former presidents, vice presidents, and their heirs to claim executive privilege in determining which of their records get released to the public.”
I’d wait until Obama comes to the end of his presidency before I’d rejoice about this one.
“…Put a freeze on the salaries of top White House aides.”
How long will this freeze last and how much money will it save? Is this symbolic or substantive?
“…Obama’s top priority upon taking office was to institute limits on his own power. That’s something even a cynic like me can celebrate.”
Again, symbolic or substantive? Time will tell.
PJ Doland:
“I’m at least glad we’ll be living in Obama’s welfare state instead of McCain’s police state.”
That’s an interesting point. I would rather live in a somewhat paternalistic European-style social democracy than a deeply authoritarian garrison state. But, I don’t think we necessarily have to choose between the two anymore. Obama has shown a willingness to listen to friends and rivals alike since his days on the Harvard Law Review, so hopefully he’ll be looking for options beyond strengthening large, bureaucratic welfare agencies. Besides, when was the last time you heard a Democrat discuss eliminating ineffective programs?
Times are tough, and the pressure on Obama to go overboard on the economy will be great. As a man of the (non-socialist) Liberal-Left, I may not object as fiercely to some proposals as hardcore libertarians would, but I won’t settle for more of the same either.
I wish we could get to the point when we could have a national discussion about the possibility of a basic income for all, instead of traditional welfare for the poor. People ranging from Martin Luther King to Milton Friedman to Charles Murray have discussed this. If everyone received a dividend (a limited example would be the Alaska Permanent Fund, funded through oil revenues) to pad their income a bit, people would have greater flexibility when looking for satisfying work. Coupled with reduced regulations for entry level positions and small business, this could energize those who now live paycheck to paycheck. It may actually make the issue of unions moot, since workers would not feel forced stick with crappy jobs as much as they do currently. An added bonus: This could break down some of the divide between liberals and libertarians (or the Left and Right flanks of libertarianism).
#42
Not to be one of those darn readers ready to leap to the defense of our fearless blogfather, but if Balko is a liberal, then cheers to liberals.
I sit in class with liberals everyday at my college. Three days a week I sit in a mandatory class which consists of communitarian propaganda from the teacher and agreement from the class. I have learned that the social contract exists whether I agree or not. That breaking the law, even the old hippie standby of draft dodging, is not okay. You can just find a new country. Forget not paying taxes as a form of protest!
These are liberals. Balko has expressed occasional and tentative flashes of slight optimism about Obama’s ability to be less completely horrible than Bush or McCain on some issues. Wooooow, what a commie.
Jesus Christ, Balko would be berated as a miserable cynic by my friends and classmates.
Balko also continues to blog about police brutality and the horrors of the drug war, and done great work in helping to get Cory Maye off of death row. Meanwhile, liberals blink stupidly and ask “outrage? drug war?” or cheerfully say that THEY are getting away with their pot smoking, so it’s not really a concern.
I would love to be able to sit in a class with someone as liberal as Radley Balko.
(Forgive the defense instinct here, that’s what comes of making me read Robert Bellah’s “The Good Society” if I want to graduate.)
[...] The Agitator » Blog Archive » Yes, He Did – Obama acted like a Libertarian on day 1 in office. I don#039;t expect it to continue, but I#039;ll take it. [...]
[...] couldn’t say it better, so I’m just going to cut & paste the entirety of Radley Balko’s post: Credit where it’s due: Well done, Mr. Obama. I’m sure we’ll have our differences, but afer [...]
“But why does everyone refer to him as the 1st black prez?
He’s as much white as he is black”
My snarky response to that has always been “so you think he would have gotten to sit in the middle of the bus?” Pedigree isn’t the issue – there was a time when one black great-grandparent would have been enough to keep someone from getting elected dogcatcher. Jon H is dead-on with the cabdriver assessment.
I wish we could get to the point when we could have a national discussion about the possibility of a basic income for all…
Witness the power of non-principle.
Might want to add this to the list:
http://www.emergentchaos.com/archives/2009/01/change_i_can_believe_in.html
As has been pointed out already, this is really mostly just talk. If he truly had principles, he wouldn’t be issuing waivers right off the bat. He would stand by what he said and what he signed.
Freezing high level staff salaries? He’s probably just going to make it up in bonuses, allowances, etc. in a manner similar to what Clinton did when he “cut the white house staff”. All he did was convert them from employees to contractors so that their pay came out of a different bucket in order to make his budget look better. It actually cost the taxpayers MORE money to do it, but he got to claim that he was doing something so people would praise his cost cutting measures.
Just like Obama is “doing something”. I’m guessing that he wants to make the Clintons produce papers that they’ve been hiding so far in order to have ammunition to use against Hillary in 2008, when she will try to run against him.
If he really wants transparency in government, he wouldn’t have hired a team of lawyers to fight having to do something as simple as producing a copy of his birth certificate to prove that he was eligible to become President. Do you think the white house will release it now? Do you honestly believe that a FOIA request to the white house to prove that he is legally allowed to be in the oval office will actually get you a copy of his birth certificate?
If he had principles, he would stand by them. If he believed in transparency in government, he would exhibit some transparency in his own dealings. Until then- it’s all just talk intended to improve his image and nothing more.
It’s just like how he said it’s so bad that the Gitmo prisoners haven’t had trials, so he suspended the trials. He said that he had talked to Cheney and agreed with him about Gitmo being a complicated subject and that he would take the time to really understand all the situations and ramifications before making any changes regarding the prisoners at Gitmo. That was also just another one of his lies to look good. There’s no way that a day or so spent celebrating was sufficient time, unless you are so closed minded about it that you really don’t care what the reality is.
He reminds me of Bill Clinton in one very important way- he’s a habitual liar, but a whole lot of people believe what he says, just because he’s the one saying it.
[...] yesterday’s post: Credit where it’s due: Well done, Mr. Obama. I’m sure we’ll have our differences, but afer [...]
[...] The Agitator » Blog Archive » Yes, He Did "Credit where it’s due: Well done, Mr. Obama. I’m sure we’ll have our differences, but afer your first 40+ hours on the job, this libertarian couldn’t be happier." (tags: Obama politics progress libertarian news transparency Gitmo) [...]
Just like Obama is “doing something”. I’m guessing that he wants to make the Clintons produce papers that they’ve been hiding so far in order to have ammunition to use against Hillary in 2008, when she will try to run against him.
Sorry for what might be an obvious question, but what year do you live in?
[...] Obama. Even making curmudgeon libertarians happy already. Some nerds are also inspired by the recent changes to the whitehouse.gov robots.txt, and [...]
[...] couldn’t say it better, so I’m just going to cut & paste the entirety of Radley Balko’s post: Credit where it’s due: Well done, Mr. Obama. I’m sure we’ll have our differences, but afer [...]
[...] was to institute limits on his own power. That
[...] [+] Explore posts in the same categories: obama, progressives [...]
[...] a thank you I found at Radley Balko’s blog, The Agitator. I think he sums it up [...]
But why did he have to waste time on his first day in office going to church?
[...] and some of the Bush administration’s civil liberties shortcomings. Radley Balko details them here and [...]