Day One: The end of Cheneyesque secrecy. A stick thrown in the lobbying revolving door. A pay freeze for higher-paid administration officials. A striking new order to help facilitate the fulfilling of Freedom of Information Act requests from the media. And listen to what he said while announcing that:
"The Government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears," Obama said in the FOIA memo, adding later that "In responding to requests under the FOIA, executive branch agencies (agencies) should act promptly and in a spirit of cooperation, recognizing that such agencies are servants of the public."
Day Two: An order to close Gitmo. An order to close international CIA "black sites" for detention. Another one to require all interrogations to adhere to the US Army field manual (i.e., no torture).
Amazing. We're returning to living in an open democratic society again. Also tragic that steps like these, which should be normal, are amazing.
