More Encouraging Signs from the Obama Administration

By BJ

Yesterday, Big Tent Democrat noted that Obama's inaugural speech wouldn't become truly great until Obama matched actions to his words.

Judging an inaugural speech in the moment is a mistake in my opinion. Immediate plaudits and pans are meaningless. Barack Obama's inaugural speech will best be judged after he acts as President.

That is clearly true, lest we forget that Bush made some decent speeches during his two terms, and at least said many things that would have been laudable, if he had ever actually meant any of them.

Well, Obama hasn't been wasting any time, moving to stop Guantanamo's military tribunals and close the prison there, the appointment of former Senator Mitchell as Middle East envoy, and closing the loopholes left by the previous administration to allow for the torture of prisoners in American custody. Heck, he even re-took the Oath of Office after the slight flubbing of the exact wording at the inauguration, showing, as another commentator noted, more respect for the Constitution already than his predecessor showed in eight years.

And then there is this:

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Freezing the salaries of those White House staff who make more than $100,000 a year, new restrictions for lobbyists and further restrictions on those who work in government and might want to move into a lobbyist position. The last part about the freedom of information strikes me as the most impressive. The Freedom of Information Act is one of the most important tools the public has in keeping their governments accountable, and Obama seems more than willing to bring some real transparency to the process. Standing on the side of those who wish to make information known, rather than those who wish to withhold it.

At this point, that last is also only words, but they are the right words, and if Obama follows through on even part of them, D.C. is going to be a very different place than what it has been the last eight years.