(From CBS 2 School)Each Inauguration Day reminds us of the bit of regret that we have for fighting against the King more than 225 years ago.
While the War for Independence was supposed to set America down a path away from the divine right of kings and toward popular sovereignty, Inauguration Day symbolizes our innate need to be awed by leadership every so often.
Like any inauguration, the celebration of Barack Obama’s presidency will certainly project the country’s hope that the festivities will lighten our outlook on to the future of our nation.
Under the Articles of Confederation, we wallowed without a chief executive for years fearing the creation of a tyrant. When the Constitution created the office of the President it purposefully made this individual both Head of Government—to manage the daily affairs of the federal government—and Head of State.
(Above Right) Washington's Monument: The Man who could have been King's Memorial was surrounded by hundreds of thousands Tuesday during the inauguration.
Heads of States represent their countries in mostly symbolic ways. England still empowers Queen Elizabeth II in this capacity while the Prime Minister gets the more powerful but less ornate job as Head of Government.
As our first President, George Washington recognized the need merge both jobs. Washington brought a healthy dose of pomp and circumstance in respecting the office of the presidency. But he also recognized the danger of cementing too much power the office…hence his retirement after two terms.
The festivities were filled with parades, poetry, 21-gun salutes, military ceremony and formal dining as a celebration of our newest chief executive and as a celebration of what we hope lies ahead.
Barack Obama will use his initial hours as President to sign executive orders to start his job of governing just as the Constitution mandates, but more of Tuesday’s focus was be put on how Obama carries himself as the Chief of State. Our Constitution says little about this role, but our state of mind will be fixated on this for the next four years.
VIDEO: Inauguration Day__________________
On Wednesday, there was mix of ceremony, and governing. Politico.com reports on a handful of first day executive orders the 44th President signed on his first day in office. They include: lobbyist reform; a white house staff pay freeze; FOYI requests to be routinely approved, rather than routinely denied; and a revoking of President Bush's order limiting access to White House documents.
www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/17765.html
But the bigger news may come Thursday, as Reuters is reporting:
"President Barack Obama, moving swiftly to restore a U.S. image hurt by accusations of torture, is ready to issue orders on Thursday to close Guantanamo prison and overhaul the treatment of terrorism suspects.
A draft executive order obtained by Reuters on Wednesday sets a one-year deadline to close the controversial U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where suspected Muslim militants have been detained for years without trial.
Obama, who was sworn in on Tuesday, is expected to issue the final order on Guantanamo on Thursday, along with orders to ban abusive interrogations and review the detention of terrorism suspects, a congressional aide and a White House official said."
2 comments:
On the subject of Guantanamo, I understand why the Bush administration opened the facility because of the crisis at hand. My question is why did it get so out of hand that they went to the extent that they did? We have been through other wars where this source of interrogation was not used, so why now? To the current inmates, is Obama going to put them on trial and if so is the law going to be different for them than U.S. citizens? There is just so many questions that need to be answered on this subject and personally there is just not one definitive answer.
i agree with patrick. Going along with the closing of Guantanamo, I like Obama's change in interrogation methods. Using the Army field manuals way of doing interrogations makes everyone, government or military, on the same page. It is also treating a suspect more "humane" than they were treated during a Bush administration.
I do think however now with the closing of Guantanamo bay there needs to be another prison, made from the Obama administration, which would be a place to not only hold trials, but to hold terrorists for as long as their sentence is given for. This solution would help with the confusion of what to do with the inmates already in Guantanamo.
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