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Great Analysis of Obama’s First Day in Office + Open Thread

By SusanUnPC on January 22, 2009 at 3:30 AM in Fox News, Guantanamo, Inauguration Day, Obama Administration, Open Thread, Tim Geithner

Truthtelling007 has revived our NoQuarterUSA YouTube channel, and has put up parts one and two of the “Fox All Stars” who appear in the closing segments of Fox News’s “Special Report With Bret Baier.” I prefer these more unvarnished analyses to the otherwise giddy, awe-struck blather on some other news channels. This segment features criticisms of Treasury nominee Geithner, and more:

The second segment below gets into the complex nature of the issues surrounding the commitment to close Guantanamo Bay:

http://www.partizane.com catfish

Love Juan Williams.

Methinks Repubs are keeping their lips buttoned and hoping Tim Geithner gets confirmed so they can later criticize Dems and Obama as hypocrites.

This is a no-brainer – contact your senators and tell them no on Geithner! Details here: http://partizane.com/node/644

Finance Committee Members listed at The FC’s website is: http://finance.senate.gov/index.html

Dems on Finance Committee:
MAX BAUCUS, MT
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, WV
KENT CONRAD, ND
JEFF BINGAMAN, NM
JOHN F. KERRY, MA
BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, AR
RON WYDEN, OR
CHARLES E. SCHUMER, NY
DEBBIE STABENOW, MI
MARIA CANTWELL, WA
KEN SALAZAR, CO

Call Max Baucus – he’s been vocal recently about Obama.
socalannie

Thanks Truthtelling007 & Susan for putting this together. I’d much rather get my news here! So Barack is for more openness in Gov? Wonder if he’ll start being more open about himself.
truthtelling007

You’re welcome.
wodiej

I come into work and they have some media whore channel on, don’t know which one. They are talking about the J Crew clothes for the Obama girls. I switch it to Fox news and they are talking about the freak who didn’t pay his taxes and wants to be cofirmed as Sec. Treasury. Gee, which one of these do you think is the worthier news channel?
Touchet

I need a Good JOB!
Neverland

Ugh, I still can’t call him President Obama..
ritamary

Thank you Susan and Truthtelling007. You are providing a great service to NQ readers. We don’t have to waste time watching television attempting to find anything of substance there. Also we don’t have to waste money paying for cable.
ritamary

Great news! Reuters reports that Caroline Kennedy is withdrawing her Senate bid citing “personal reasons”. (Probably wants to spend more time with her family.)
wodiej

I’ll do the same damn thing I did with Bush…I’ll just call him Obama. I never said Bush and preceded it with President. To me that is a title deserving only of someone who shows honor and integrity in the role.
NYC

Also we don’t have to waste money paying for cable.

I thought I was the only one not missing cable TV at all! Less aggravation and more money in my pocket.
NYC

So Barack is for more openness in Gov? Wonder if he’ll start being more open about himself.

That is the question. From today’s NYTimes:

QUOTATION OF THE DAY

“For a long time now there’s been too much secrecy in this city.”
PRESIDENT OBAMA, at a swearing-in ceremony for senior officials.
beebop

The confirmation of Geithner would represent further demolition of the Democratic(sic) party. Let’s just hold ourselves to the lowest possible standards, eh?
DAB

On Freezing White House Pay:
Everyone just got there, were they already up for a raise? Ridiculous — total window dressing!

On Transparency:
What a hoot! Obama has run the most closed and secret campaign ever and has been studying the Bush Model (or perhaps Nixon) on how to handle the press and the public i.e. keep it close and don’t more than you have to.

I also consider Fox the most objective purveyor of information at this time which is a big surprise to me. I even watched Hannity’s interview with Limbaugh last night and he actually sounded sane when he discussed the media’s hero worship of Obama. Apparently, strange times often lead to strange bedfellows.
wodiej

I know, I would never watch Fox news before. I still don’t care for O’Reilly. I think he drank the Kool Aid. Fox and Friends in the morning is pretty good.
SJ

Yep he froze everyone’s pay but did not lead by example and take a dip in his also, I thought he would of to show well look guys am taking one too but that is not the case.

His wife with all the cost cutting an belt tighten he is asking for found it necessary to buy one dress for 1500 dollars, don’t know what the other cost and she is busying going to spend another 100,000 on renovations of the WH that was renovated 4 years ago.

Its not like the WH is falling apart, or had kids running all over the place so it needs a major redo, but I guess the cost cutting is for all of us in these hard times while Obama enjoys life as he never had it this way before.
DAB

I think that their first decorative change will be that Oval Office Rug since Bill Clinton declared that he really loved it.
ACPD

I take it from BO’s Ex. Orders that he will open up his personal documents–Right?

Oh, wait; he just put a hold on the Bush Ex. Order to “re-investigate” a federal employee’s qualifications to hold office….

http://drorly.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-action-filed-by-orly-taitz-esq.html

The lack of nuance in these few moves speaks to his lack of experience in governing. That’s what we all said all along. Governance is very complicated and requires orders of magnitude more wisdom and awareness than this Dude has….
DAB

So much for more Transparency and Openness:

NEWS AGENCIES REFUSE OBAMA PHOTOS; ‘VISUAL PRESS RELEASES

Three news agencies, the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Press, wouldn’t distribute White House-provided images of Obama yesterday, citing the breaking of long-standing tradition of giving access to photographers in the Oval Office.

The AP reports: “We are not distributing what are, in effect, visual press releases,” said Michael Oreskes, managing editor for U.S. news at the AP.

The news agencies have used White House-provided images in the past for areas in the White House where media access is generally not permitted, such as the Situation Room or the private residence. But they contend that the Oval Office is the public office of the president and photographers should have access rather than rely on a government handout.

“Using these photos would be a major break with established precedent and would compromise the long-held tradition of independent photo coverage of the president and the White House by the major news agencies,” said Courtney Dolan, spokeswoman for Thomson Reuters.

There was no immediate reply to e-mail and phone messages left with Obama representatives.

The White House later released a photograph of the president retaking the oath of office with Chief Justice John Roberts, which the AP also rejected.
JB

You do realize that congress determines the president’s pay, right?
athy

DAB

Here is more on that story-

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090123/D95SR0K80.html

News access issues concern those covering Obama

EXCERPTS
Jan 23, 2009

By DAVID BAUDER

NEW YORK (AP) – News organizations that cover the White House sparred with the Obama administration on Thursday over access issues for photographers and rules for briefings.
Representatives from Obama’s press office held a conference call with photo editors, who are concerned that the administration prefers distributing photos taken by a White House photographer in cases where photojournalists have been permitted access in the past. It was unclear whether the two sides had reached any accommodation.

The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse refused to distribute photos taken by the White House of the new president on his first day in the Oval Office because of the dispute.

Still photographers were also not given access to Obama’s do-over oath of office administered Wednesday night by Chief Justice John Roberts and an economics meeting on Thursday.

Television network bureau chiefs also protested the exclusion of video cameras from the second oath of office.

Four reporters witnessed the oath of office and shared their observations with others, and a White House photo was released.

The Associated Press also questioned on Thursday why reporters were not allowed to use the names of administration officials giving a background briefing on issues regarding the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba.

“Information is a lot more valuable to the public if you know where it’s coming from,” Oreskes said. “So we try very hard in all source situations to identify sources as fully as we can.”

Follow link to read the rest.
http://deleted Buzz Latte LaRue

Too much secrecy?

WHERE”S THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE, HEALTH RECORDS, TRANSCRIPTS,
AND ANYTHING ELSE YOU”VE HIDDEN, BARACK?