In a first-day flurry of activity, President Barack Obama on Wednesday set up shop in the Oval Office, summoned advisers to begin dealing with war and recession and ordered new lobbying rules for "a clean break from business as usual."

He also froze salaries for top White House staff members, placed phone calls to Mideast leaders and had aides circulate a draft executive order that would close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay within a year.

Devoting swift attention to the Mideast turmoil, Obama prepared to give George Mitchell, the former Senate Democratic leader, a top diplomatic post for the region.

Unveiling ethics rules that he portrayed as the fulfillment of a major campaign promise, Obama said that "the way to make government responsible is to hold it accountable." The rules are needed, he added, "to help restore faith in government, without which we cannot deliver the changes that we were sent here to make."

The pay freeze affects the roughly 100 White House employees who make more than $100,000 a year. "Families are tightening their belts, and so should Washington," Obama said.

Obama's new lobbying rules will ban aides from trying to influence the administration when they leave his staff. Those already hired will be banned from working on matters they have previously lobbied on, or to approach agencies that they once targeted.

The rules also ban lobbyists from giving gifts of any size to any member of his administration. It wasn't immediately clear whether the ban would include the traditional "previous relationships" clause, allowing gifts from friends or associates with which an employee comes in with strong ties.

The new rules also stipulate that anyone who leaves his administration cannot try to influence former friends and colleagues for at least two years. Obama is requiring all staff to attend to an ethics briefing like one he said he attended last week.

Obama called the rules tighter "than under any other administration in history." They followed pledges during his campaign to be strict about the influence of lobbyists in his White House.

"The new rules on lobbying alone, no matter how tough, are not enough to fix a broken system in Washington," he said. "That's why I'm also setting rules that govern not just lobbyists but all those who have been selected to serve in my administration."

'Too much secrecy'
In an attempt to deliver on pledges of a transparent government, Obama said he would change the way the federal government interprets the Freedom of Information Act. He said he was directing agencies that vet requests for information to err on the side of making information public — not to look for reasons to legally withhold it — an alteration to the traditional standard of evaluation.

Just because a government agency has the legal power to keep information private does not mean that it should, Obama said. Reporters and public-interest groups often make use of the law to explore how and why government decisions were made; they are often stymied as agencies claim legal exemptions to the law.

"For a long time now, there's been too much secrecy in this city," Obama said.

He said the orders he was issuing Wednesday will not "make government as honest and transparent as it needs to be" nor go as far as he would like.

"But these historic measures do mark the beginning of a new era of openness in our country," Obama said. "And I will, I hope, do something to make government trustworthy in the eyes of the American people, in the days and weeks, months and years to come."

no need to...I already know the definition...and...now you do too...

On the news tonight they reported that he had given staffers, aides etc. 100 days to come up with:

a: a reasonable plan for withdrawal from Iraq

b: plans on how to shut down Guantanamo

c: an economic plan

LORD Obama tells you 1+1=3 and you believe him. He is a Cult of Personality. I thought a man should be judged on the content of his character NOT by the color of his skin. Yet he was elected because he is 1/2 black. ??????????????????????

What issues? He just repeated the same word over and over. Change. He forgot to tell you he is a Socialist. This has always been a free market country. Changing that will most certainly cause more harm than good. For example the great depression was a recession until Hoover and FDR got involved. The only thing that got us out of their mess was WW2. Does the Industrial Revolution ring any bells?

LORD Obama tells you 1+1=3 and you believe him. He is a Cult of Personality. I thought a man should be judged on the content of his character NOT by the color of his skin. Yet he was elected because he is 1/2 black. ??????????????????????

I already did know.

Wiki - There are three major types of racism: It includes stereotyping(involving lack of respect, suspicion, devaluation, and dehumanization).

Persistent negative stereotypes add fuel to the fire within institutionalized racism. The presence of stereotypes matters because of their influence on interpersonal interactions. Stereotypes not only contribute to patterns of racial residential segregations, they also shape views of crime, crime policy, and welfare policy, especially if contextual information is stereotype-consistent.

Lighten up a little!You people called GW Bush every name under the sun and now all of a sudden nobody can poke fun at Obama?Wow alot of irony in this place.We still have freedom of speech so I will ad my little tid bit to Obama.

The presidential motorcade will now how spinners on the wheels of all the Escalades.The men in the front seats of these cars will drive leaning way back so you can only see their heads sticking up.The limousine will have it's sound system upgraded to include a massive boom box in the trunk.Also in the trunk will be no less then two cases of malt liquor and 10 packs of blunt cigerettes .There will be no white men for Obamas security detail.They will be replaced with 350 pound ex-cons who used to be security guards for 50 cents and Snoop dog.

LORD Obama tells you 1+1=3 and you believe him. He is a Cult of Personality. I thought a man should be judged on the content of his character NOT by the color of his skin. Yet he was elected because he is 1/2 black. ??????????????????????