President Barack Obama

President Obama has been working at a furious pace to craft coherent policy responses to the worsening economic crisis. His Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner, has been approved by the Senate and is now on the job. Obama’s $819 billion economic stimulus bill has been approved by the House of Representatives, albeit without a single Republican congressman voting for it, despite attempts by Barack Obama to win bipartisan support. In the meantime, the economic and unemployment data betray a fast deteriorating American and global economy.

Barack Obama has announced his intentions to formulate a plan that responds to both the economic crisis and the collapse of the U.S. banking sector. President Obama will have a difficult decision to make with respect to the banking crisis. Even with the $700 billion TARP program, the bank crisis in the U.S. is getting worse. It may eventually require trillions of dollars of taxpayer money to recapitalize the banks.

President Barack Obama is beginning his term in office with the worst financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression on his plate. President Obama has warned the American people that things will get worse before they improve. Obama has also warned that doing nothing will lead to an even larger disaster as the Global Economic Crisis cripples the U.S. and other major economies.

An angry Barack Obama issued a sharp condemnation from the White House regarding the decision by the tycoons of Wall Street firms and banks receiving a massive bailout from the taxpayers of America to reward themselves with an $18 billion bonus. At a time when these same Wall Street companies are begging the government for vast amounts of bailout money to save them from their own mistakes, President Barack Obama made clear that the senior executives of these same firms must act responsibly. Obama declared that taking any bonus at this time is not an act that is responsible.

The President also referred to the initial decision by Citigroup to take delivery of a $50 million French-built executive jet it that had ordered to ensure its executives traveled in comfort. Barack Obama implied that Citigroup had heard a sharp message from his administration, leading to the cancellation by Citigroup of the delivery of the jet.President Barack Obama showed a level of anger not previously seen since he assumed office.

It remains to be seen if the crippled Wall Street firms and banks depending on taxpayers support for their survival heard the stern message uttered by Barack Obama. No doubt, the public is on the side of President Obama on this issue.

With the Republican Party in disarray after its crushing defeat to Barack Obama and Democratic Congressional candidates in the November 4 election, conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh has indeed “rushed” to fill the resulting vacuum. His weapon of choice: unrelenting attacks against President Obama.

While Obama soars in popularity, Limbaugh sought to take him down a peg by proclaiming his hope that Obama “will fail.” Even many Republicans were concerned with this attack, especially at a time of national crisis. It seemed to imply that Limbaugh doesn’t care if the American nation undergoes economic collapse resulting from Obama being a presidential failure.

Limbaugh is not concerned with criticism of his vociferous attacks against Barack Obama. He believes that Republican electoral failure is due to betraying the purity of conservative economic ideology and orthodoxy. One result of his attacks may be to compel Republicans in Congress to be less bipartisan towards President Barack Obama, or risk being tagged as “liberal” by the Republican base.

As President Obama moves forward to win support in Congress for his $825 billion stimulus package, Rush Limbaugh will undoubtedly continue to strengthen the vigor and tone of his attacks on Obama. Perhaps the next move by Limbaugh will be to throw his endorsement behind a contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. Likely pick by Limbaugh is Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2008. A sign that Palin is beginning to make her move in preparation for 2012 is her recent formation of her own political action committee.

Referred to as the Obama Plan, the economic stimulus package being proposed by President Barack Obama, it is the number one legislative priority of the new administration. President Obama’s economic recovery plan will require the government to borrow $825 billion. Several officials of the Obama administration and allies in Congress have also indicated that more money may be needed to be distributed to banks, beyond the $700 billion already appropriated for TARP funding.

Barack Obama has indicated that it is urgent that Congress moves quickly and boldly on the Obama stimulus package. President Obama warned that a bad situation might get much worse for the American economy without speedy action. New jobless claims are at record levels as companies continue to announce layoffs. America’s banks remain in a weak condition. The bad economic news explains why President Barack Obama will be highly focussed on the economy and the passage by Congress of his plan to revitalize the U.S. economy.

President Obama has made the decision to terminate a ban on providing funding for organizations that provide abortion services overseas, thus reversing a policy enacted by the previous administration of George W. Bush. This is one of a number of executive orders being issued by Barack Obama that reverses policies of the previous president.

The policy of George W. Bush, referred to as the “global gag rule,” prevented organizations that provide relief in foreign countries from being recipients of U.S. funding if they were connected in any way in the support or provision of abortion services. Non-profit health organizations have indicated they have incurred severe financial distress, as the U.S. government is one of the primary funders of family planning programs on a global scale. President Barack Obama’s decision will be received as welcome news by these organizations.

With hundreds of groups functioning in many of the world’s poorest countries, where both infant and maternal mortality rates are very high, they have had to make a difficult choice. They could agree to sign the gag rule of the Bush administration, agreeing to be silent on abortion, or refuse to sign and be deprived of significant amounts of financial aid from the United States. President Obama will now remove the “global gag rule,” allowing funding to be directed to those organizations that had refused to obey the policy of the Bush administration. Barack Obama is demonstrating in his first days as 44^th U.S. president that he intends to chart a course much different from that of his predecessor.

President Barack Obama is moving forward on his pledge to close the controversial U.S. military detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The 44^th President issued a request to suspend all war crimes trials being conducted at Guantanamo. Obama’s request resulted in a judge calling a halt in the proceedings against a young Canadian in custody for many years as an “unlawful enemy combatant,” the term used for Al-Qaeda suspects captured by the U.S. military.

An Army judge, Colonel Patrick Parrish, issued a one-sentence written order for the 120-day continuance. The attorney for Toronto native Omar Khadr did not submit an objection to Parrish’s decision. The Khadr case has aroused great controversy in Canada, due to his young age at the time of his capture in Afghanistan.

Though there are complications involved in closing the Guantanamo detention facility, it is expected that President Obama will continue to move forward in phasing out the facility. Barack Obama has indicated on many occasions, including his inauguration speech, that the U.S. must not sacrifice its ideals in the struggle against Al-Qaeda and international terrorism.

Barack H. Obama is now officially the 44th President of the United States. The first African-American to be elected president of the U.S.A. was sworn in with the same Bible used at the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln in 1861.

An estimated two million people were present in Washington D.C. for the inauguration of Barack Obama as 44th President. The audience that watched the swearing in of President Obama was global, and may possibly be counted in the billions.

In his inaugural address, President Barack Obama spoke with great eloquence not only to his own fellow American citizens, but also to citizens of the world. He pledged renewed American leadership on the world stage for those oppressed politically and seeking economic opportunity with justice. On the home front, President Obama also spoke of individual responsibility, the need to make tough choices and the long road ahead for leading America out of the global economic crisis.

Now that Barack Obama is the 44th President and Joe Biden the Vice President, it can be truly said that the George W. Bush era is over. The entire world now looks to President Obama to lead America in a new direction.

In three more days, Barack Obama will be inaugurated as the 44^th president of the United States of America. The entire world is alive with anticipation and excitement, as the day of the inauguration draws near. The specter of Obama mania will probably ensure that a global audience of billions will be watching President-elect Obama being sworn in, his hands on the same Bible that Abraham Lincoln, 16^th U.S. president, used at his inauguration.

From January 20th, 2009 the world will be referring to President Barack Obama. Soon to be past history will be the eight years of George W. Bush, which has left America alienated from much of the world, mired in two wars and now with an economy in the throes of a major depression.

So many Americans, and others across the world, have high expectations in Barack Obama. Will a President Obama be able to deliver on the hopes of so many? His challenges are so immense and daunting, the odds are so great. However, just by being elected 44^th President, Barack Obama has already demonstrated his capacity to overcome steep odds, and fulfill the “Audacity of Hope.” The world now awaits President Barack Obama.

An Iranian mob rampaged in Tehran, the capital of Iran, setting fire to posters with pictures of the United States President-elect, Barack Obama. They also waved Palestinian flags, showing their solidarity with the people of Gaze and hostility towards Israel, which is waging war on Hamas. It is common for Iranian demonstrators to burn effigies or pictures of American presidents in protests. This marked the first time that a foreign protest involved defacing an image of Barack Obama, who is to be sworn in as the 44^th U.S. President on January 20^th.

Iran has often attacked both Israel and the United States. The Iranian leadership has strongly condemned the Israeli military action in Gaza.

In addition to burning a picture of Obama, some of the demonstrators chanted, “Death to Obama,” while marching in the Iranian capital.

Leon Edward Panetta was nominated by President –elect Obama to be the head of the Central Intelligence Agency. The decision by Barack Obama to pick Panetta to head the CIA aroused some controversy, as Leon Panetta has had no previous intelligence experience. However, he has had extensive government experience, especially in Washing D.C., and served as chief of staff to President Bill Clinton.

Obama made two other choices for his national security team and intelligence team. Retired Admiral Dennis Blair

will serve as head of National Intelligence. Barack Obama praised both Panetta and Blair in strong terms. Obama told the media, “they are public servants with unquestioned integrity, broad experience,” adding that these men were “the right leaders to advance the work of our intelligence community.”  

John Brennan, who was former acting director of the National Counterterrorism Center, will be Barack Obama’s White House adviser on counterterrorism.