President Obama following through in office
Kasey Fehler
Issue date: 4/8/09 Section: News
By Kasey Fehler
Since coming into office, President Barack Obama has made many strides to keep his numerous campaign promises. He came into office amidst much pomp and circumstance with him being our nation's first African-American president. At a recent press conference Ann Compton, a long-time ABC News reporter asked Obama if his race had been an issue in any of the White House's policy meetings. Obama replied, "at the inauguration, I think there was justifiable pride on the part of the country," but his first two months in office had been dominated by working to fix the economy.
Economy aside, the first thing Obama did in office was signing and executive order to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The order required the closure of Guantanamo within the year as well as forcing all CIA secret overseas prisons to close. It was not surprising when Obama signed the order just two days after the inauguration; one of his main platforms during the campaign was to reverse the years of torture George W. Bush had allowed at the prison.
Another executive order signed by Obama was one reversing a Bush ban on allowing government money to fund research on human embryonic stem cells. Many religious and right to life groups are trying to fight this order citing that it could pave way for more lax abortion laws and that people will begin creating embryos purely for research.
The most well known action of Obama since taking office has been the signing a massive stimulus package, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. On February 17, Obama signed the bill into law to spend $787 billion toward stabilizing the American economy. The package used money to expand unemployment benefits, tax cuts, offering a first-time homebuyer credit, a payroll tax credit, reinforcing Medicaid, and education. In Kentucky, stimulus money was used to help with storm cleanup from the ice storm in January. Critics of the package claim it is loaded with too many "pet projects" like tennis courts and playgrounds for specific counties.
Since coming into office, President Barack Obama has made many strides to keep his numerous campaign promises. He came into office amidst much pomp and circumstance with him being our nation's first African-American president. At a recent press conference Ann Compton, a long-time ABC News reporter asked Obama if his race had been an issue in any of the White House's policy meetings. Obama replied, "at the inauguration, I think there was justifiable pride on the part of the country," but his first two months in office had been dominated by working to fix the economy.
Economy aside, the first thing Obama did in office was signing and executive order to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The order required the closure of Guantanamo within the year as well as forcing all CIA secret overseas prisons to close. It was not surprising when Obama signed the order just two days after the inauguration; one of his main platforms during the campaign was to reverse the years of torture George W. Bush had allowed at the prison.
Another executive order signed by Obama was one reversing a Bush ban on allowing government money to fund research on human embryonic stem cells. Many religious and right to life groups are trying to fight this order citing that it could pave way for more lax abortion laws and that people will begin creating embryos purely for research.
The most well known action of Obama since taking office has been the signing a massive stimulus package, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. On February 17, Obama signed the bill into law to spend $787 billion toward stabilizing the American economy. The package used money to expand unemployment benefits, tax cuts, offering a first-time homebuyer credit, a payroll tax credit, reinforcing Medicaid, and education. In Kentucky, stimulus money was used to help with storm cleanup from the ice storm in January. Critics of the package claim it is loaded with too many "pet projects" like tennis courts and playgrounds for specific counties.
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