• Listen to this segment

It has almost been one week since Barack Obama took the oath of office and became the forty-fourth President of the United States. Since that time, he has signed a number of executive orders, including setting a one-year deadline for closing Guantanamo prison, in his first days in office. Ahead of seeking passage of his economic stimulus plan, President Obama also announced a pay freeze for white house staffers in his administration, stating “During this period of economic emergency, families are tightening their belts, and so should Washington.” In seeking to break with the previous Bush Administration, the new President has also taken the opportunity of his first week in office to freeze last-minute ‘midnight regulations,’ put in by the former Republican president to relax environmental rules. Obama is also expected to reverse Bush’s first act in office by ending the ‘global gag rule’ that disallowed U.S. tax payer money from funding global family planning groups that provide information about abortion. One aspect of Obama’s first week in office that has drawn measured criticism is his Middle Eastern diplomacy exemplified by the appointment of George Mitchell as envoy to the region.

GUEST: Norman Solomon, nationally syndicated columnist on media and politics, founder and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, author of “War Made Easy”

Read Solomon’s latest article in Commondreams