It's Amazing What Brains Can Do For The Presidency: Obama's First 45 Days

Signing the orders on Gitmo

Watching the President work through his first 100 days is almost as tiring as being the President during that short period of time. To say that he hit the ground running after his inauguration would be an understatement. And while anyone in the office could have done better than backslapping George, Barack Obama managed to do more in less time and under the worst conditions ever presented to a President since Roosevelt.

Since Jan. 20th, President Barack Obama has:

• Suspended all pending federal regulations so that they could be reviewed. Bush had done the same thing when he first came to office. Difference: Bush sneaked in over 200 deregulations while Clinton issued only 12 executive orders.
• Enacted a wage freeze for Senior White House Staff.
• Announced stricter guidelines regarding lobbyists.
• Signed executive order suspending all on-going proceedings for Guantanamo Military Commission and that the facility would be closed within a year.
• Signed an order to restrict interrogations to the Army Field Manual.
• Issued Ethics Commitment by Executive Branch Personnel setting stricter limits on incoming executive branch employees.
• Signed two memoranda regarding energy independence.
• Rescinded the Mexico City Policy, banning funds to international groups that provide abortion services. ·
• Established the policy of producing a weekly Saturday morning video released through Whitehouse.gov and YouTube.com.
• Signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
• Increased Afghanistan troops by 17,000.
• Outlined an exit strategy for the Iraq war.
  
• Formulated and signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

In contrast, George Bush (first term):

• Proposed a $1.6 Trillion tax cut - Unsuccessfully.
• Established The Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, but didn't fund it with the promised $2 billion.
• Abandoned The Kyoto Protocol.
• Built up the country's missile defense system.

(second term):

• Failed attempt to privatize Social Security
• Signed the Class Action Fairness Act
• Five-day European Tour to repair alliances
• Nominated John Bolton as the US Ambassador to the United Nations while congress was in recess because both parties filibustered the nomination.
• Proposed an energy plan that gave subsidies to oil, coal, nuclear and gas industries.