(via TPM) Remarks By The President Welcoming Senior Staff And Cabinet Secretaries – 1/21/09

I will comment in italics. Just putting out bits of this but it is worth going to read all of it.

During this period of economic emergency, families are tightening their belts, and so should Washington. And that’s why I’m instituting a pay freeze on the salaries of my senior White House staff. Some of the people in this room will be affected by the pay freeze, and I want you to know that I appreciate your willingness to agree to it, recognizing that it’s what’s required of you at this moment.

No it isn’t perfect, but it is nice ot see him taking a step. If more companies took steps like that with CEOs they could afford to save more jobs overall.

As I often said during the campaign, we need to make the White House the people’s house. And we need to close the revolving door that lets lobbyists come into government freely, and lets them use their time in public service as a way to promote their own interests over the interests of the American people when they leave.
So today we are taking a major step towards fulfilling this campaign promise. The executive order on ethics I will sign shortly represents a clean break from business as usual. As of today, lobbyists will be subject to stricter limits than under any other administration in history. If you are a lobbyist entering my administration, you will not be able to work on matters you lobbied on, or in the agencies you lobbied during the previous two years. When you leave government, you will not be able to lobby my administration for as long as I am President. And there will be a ban on gifts by lobbyists to anyone serving in the administration, as well.

Some serious, hard written, lobbyist rules. They’re interesting as hell and the sort of thing that make you wonder why this is the first time anyone has put them into effect.

The directives I am giving my administration today on how to interpret the Freedom of Information Act will do just that. For a long time now, there’s been too much secrecy in this city. The old rules said that if there was a defensible argument for not disclosing something to the American people, then it should not be disclosed. That era is now over. Starting today, every agency and department should know that this administration stands on the side not of those who seek to withhold information but those who seek to make it known.

To be sure, issues like personal privacy and national security must be treated with the care they demand. But
the mere fact that you have the legal power to keep something secret does not mean you should always use it. The Freedom of Information Act is perhaps the most powerful instrument we have for making our government honest and transparent, and of holding it accountable. And I expect members of my administration not simply to live up to the letter but also the spirit of this law.

I will also hold myself as President to a new standard of openness. Going forward, anytime the American people want to know something that I or a former President wants to withhold, we will have to consult with the Attorney General and the White House Counsel, whose business it is to ensure compliance with the rule of law. Information will not be withheld just because I say so. It will be withheld because a separate authority believes my request is well grounded in the Constitution.

Let me say it as simply as I can: Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.

Well it’s about fucking time, isn’t it? Now sure, you can be all paranoid and say he is saying this stuff because it makes it eaiser to hide the real crap if he seems to be all transparent but … well after a while you start to stretch. Ya know?

And then at the end they swear in the Senior Staff. I include it for the laugh:

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Am I doing this again?
THE PRESIDENT: For the senior staff.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: For the senior staff, all right.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. A number of Cabinet members have already –
THE VICE PRESIDENT: My memory is not as good as Justice Roberts, Chief Justice Roberts. (Laughter.) Okay, no, I — this is the list. Do you have a copy of the oath? Which senior staff are we doing?
THE PRESIDENT: A whole bunch of senior staff.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Okay. All of the senior staff –
THE PRESIDENT: Rise.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: — please rise. I will say “aye,” and then you repeat your name.
THE PRESIDENT: Marvin, button up your coat. (Laughter.)

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Add that to his moves toward Gitmo today and I’d say he’s had one fuck of a Day One, wouldn’t you?