Long life, Dick Cheney.

Long enough to see all your damage repaired.

How many of us out there are seeing all this and thinking to themselves, "THESE are things I MYSELF would do, if I were President."?

Wow, isn't it amazing to have a President who thinks in ways just like us?

Happy days are here again.

The skies above are clear again.

Let us sing a song of cheer again.

Happy days are here again.

We may be heading toward the economic abyss, but we can at least be proud to be Americans again.

.

Our long national nightmare is over.

This is tremendously gratifying, and validates the faith I had in Obama. Similarly, the appalling manner in which Holder's nomination is being held up validates my utter contempt for the GOP.

Thank God Obama won.

It's only 2:00 pm now. Let's hope he works late.

To blazes with "amen" and "hallelujah"; Gimme a Barbaric Yawp!!!

*For those of you who do not know what a true "Barbaric Yawp" is, imagine the noise at the end of the Inaugural Speech---on steroids. Think "super-mega-mondo-Ostrogoth" to the Nth power cubed here....

No, Dan-- thank OURSELVES that Obama won!

"...this is exactly the kind of start I'd hoped to see."

Cosign!

Elections mean something. In this case, a whole lotta something good.

Compare this with the colossal ineptitude of Democratic Congressional leadership since they were swept in by the same tide in 2006. Obama, thankfully, gets it and is prepared to act -- Pelosi and Reid, apparently, never got the memo.

They should have started torture investigations two years ago.

President Obama(oh how I like typing that!)realizes the simple fact that he has to restore the people's faith in government once again. It's been absent so long, I've forgotten why that faith is so important. He is doing exactly the right things for the right reasons.

Man, I feel like layers of dirt are being slowly and deliberately dusted off...hey, I found the constitution under here!

Keep up the good work Mr. President.

SteveGinIL....its just great to have a President that thinks, period.

I hope he can keep up this pace of change. lol

I intend to hold Obama to the same standard I held Dumbya. So far so good and for all the lawyer bashers on the left, I think Obama's background may be a big part of the initial push toward reestablishing the rule of law in this country. Now everybody keep your fingers crossed that nothing backfires which would allow the tyrants to say "I told you so."

The aspect of Obama's style that is most striking to me (once again, I have not been an Obama fan) is his emphasis on process, in this case constitutional process, as opposed to dogma-based policy. Rather than picking an outcome and lining up policy and tactics to achieve it, he seem hell bent on a sound rocess and letting it lead where it may.

I know that is a little dense. Sorry.

Take torture and prosecutions. Rather than sending out wanted posters and gathering a posse, he has laid out a process and criteria for implementation of the process.

When questioned a month or so ago about prosecution of torturers, he simply stated something to the effect that criminals would be prosecuted. Yesterday, Holder unequivocably stated that waterboarding is torture. Through his signings today he has said that methods outside the military field manual are illegal. Gitmo and black op sites are illegal.

Obama is opening the closed files of the executive branch because he wants the normal process of legislative oversight and media coverage to run its course. I suspect he believes those processes will lead to one hell of a lot of probably cause for arrests, which he and DOJ will be "forced" to make. So he doesn't have to start a witch hunt. He just has to let the process bring them to him.

One last thing about witch hunts and all the criticisms about them. Witch hunts are only bad if there are no real witches. If there are real witches (or in this case demons), then witch hunts are a good thing.

Huh, only two days office and Obama has already refuted Marler's crap that he's going to pursue the same unpopular policies as Bush.

Not that that's a surprise to anyone.

I am elated that we have a mature adult in the White House; actually, two mature adults: Michelle is an amazing woman and her support and leadership and partnership is welcomed, with Joy!

As to those of you who may still be quibbling about the references to God or the Father, or whatever; the important thing is that the right things are being done from the beginning. Whether in the name of God, Science or the Holy Ghost, humanity is the basis of all that I have seen so far. God doesn't take sides, nor does s/he/it suspend the Laws of Nature for anyone. Talk about the Rule of Law, that is the ultimate Rule(r) of Law. And, did you notice that President Obama included non-Believers in his address? Of course, there is no such thing as a non-Believer. Eveyone believes in something: call it Science, God, Jesus, Fate, Love, Money, Peace, Power or Spaghetti. Then, you get to define that belief and apply it however you choose. God does not care about how you choose, whom you choose or when you choose. Cosmic Law is at work, like it or not, so learn to use It for good and everything will be alright.

I am committed to Oneness through Justice and Transformation
peace,
st john

Driving home from work yesterday, I was listening to Obama talking about these changes. It almost brought tears to my eyes.

Government transparency. Rule of law.

Jeez, we must be living in a democracy again.

This really is like waking up from a nightmare.

Here, here!. One can only imagine what McAce would have done in the first two days. I shudder to think but I doubt it would have included what Obama has done. Oh, he would have talked about closing it and then dragged it kicking and screaming well into his third year of the term. Palin? She would be out shopping for speed-os for the "First Dude" and a first class tutor for her GED challenged diploma-less daughter and son-in-law.I can hear her now: "Well they both can SEE the high school from the V.P.'s house so I guess that means they aren't too far away from graduation" Boy. did we ever dodge a bullet or what?

For the record, the God reference was essentially a figure of speech.

And what does it say about where we've been for the past eight years that we are so elated and relieved when our newly-elected president behaves with simple decency to expeditiously do what he promised to do? Man, what a dark period we've just survived.

Ain't it cool!

In regards to the FOIA/transparency stuff, I enjoyed Limbaugh's take:

LIMBAUGH: What I’m afraid of is that what Obama did with this executive order is actually make it easier for the media to go get Bush documents. Because you know Pelosi and some of the guys over in congress are talking about war crimes trials and charges and so forth. […]

What I’m afraid of is what Obama’s done here is made the gathering of the information for this kind of stuff– This is not American. This is not America. This is not what America does. We don’t– This is Banana Republic kind of stuff.

Hilarious. Surely even the dittoheads cant be buying something this obviously backwards.

I don't see these actions as necessarily Progressive. Any decent president, repub or dem, who respected the Constitution would do the same thing. The libertarian branch of the repub party should be out cheering, too. None of it has been ideological. The fact that anyone would support contrary policies and still be a part of the US government disgusts me.

Two words: civilian control.

The stuff Obama is doing did not use to be considered 'Progessive'. Many conversatives USE to ascribe to the view that torture was wrong, that government should be transparant in its actions, that CIA black ops needed to curtailed.

It is a sad testament to how far the Republican party has fallen that the ideals many of their former champions and founders held dear are now considered 'quaint'.

If ten years ago someone had told me that I would be happy to have a President who says torture is wrong (or the idea that a Presdent would even HAVE to specify such a thing when it should simply be assumed) I would have laughed in their face.

Obama is off to a good start but there is so much damage to fix.

One can only imagine what McAce would have done in the first two days. -- stevio, @15

Taken a good, long nap?

This also points out the useless stupidity of the 24/7 punditry class who poured out endless streams of babble about what Obama "might" do or "should" do or whatever.

I think we should go back to the old system where every TV channel signs off at midnight except for old movies and used car dealerships. At least we could all get a good night's sleep!!

I don't see these actions as necessarily Progressive. Any decent president, repub or dem, who respected the Constitution would do the same thing.

Being progressive has always been about moving government from where it is toward "decent", so I would say the acts are, indeed, progressive.

That they are progressive is, of course, a sad commentary on the status quo ante Obama, but that's another issue.

I agree with the comments that these actions are progressive mostly in context of today's situation.

But I think this is a worthwhile thing to note. The fact is that the things Obama chose to come out of the gate running with are things that both Progressives and Libertarians greatly appreciate/desire at this point in history. This not only energizes Progressives, but increases the marginalization of the non-libertarian conservatives (ie, neoconservatives and fundies)

You know, I actually voted for Nader, and was pretty down on Obama. But so far, I actually am feeling pretty positive about this President.

It's nice to know somebody is sitting in the Oval Office who isn't half-assing it. It's also nice to know Dick Cheney is no longer running the 4th branch of government.

garnash Thank you for admitting to have voted for Nader, which was a shame. Nader 'used' to stand for something, lately it has only been about aggrandizing himself.
--
What Obama has done so far can only be called progressive when you take into account that the Republican Party since Gingrich - Delay - Cheney - Bush - Frist - etc... has been so regressive that we are not even close to the center yet. Obama has still a few more weeks/months of work to bring us back to the 'center' and then we can start discussing whether his policies are actually progressive or conservative or liberal. Right now we're just getting back where we used to be before Bush took office.

What are the alternatives to military commissions?

We've used ad hoc tribunals before on foreign soil in which Constitutional prinicples were abandoned and the defendants hamstringed by limitations on defenses they could use.

Nuremberg. Ex post facto "laws," forbidden by the Constitution, rigged against the Germans. Germans unable to use defenses such as doing the same thing the allies were doing (lest they embarrass the Soviets).

Where is the outrage today?

What about the kangaroo court that tried Saddam?

trex: Huh, only two days office and Obama has already refuted Marler's crap that he's going to pursue the same unpopular policies as Bush.

Not that that's a surprise to anyone.

well....it might be to marler...

its not the first..and it won't be the last