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- Making good on campaign pledges, President Obama signed executive orders today to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility within a year, shut down the system of international prisons utilized by the Bush-era CIA to indefinitely detain terror suspects without legal recourse, and banned the use of torture by U.S. personnel, restricting interrogation techniques to those prescribed by the Army Field Manual. As Adam and Greg Sargent note, however, there's enough legal vagueness in the orders to start the process up again but I find it difficult to believe that the likes of Marty Lederman would sign off on a reversal, much less the administration itself -- after all, Bush never claimed to be involved in anything illegal whereas the Obama administration has already implied they were.
- The principled Republican opposition has responded to closing Gitmo, and my favorite is this c. 2002 bit of fear mongering from House Minority Whip Eric Cantor: "Actively moving terrorists inside our borders weakens our security, raises far more questions than it answers and is the wrong track for our nation. Most families neither want nor need hundreds of terrorists seeking to kill Americans in their communities."
- The new administration's desire for accountability and openness is laudable, but to argue that Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn -- former lobbyist for defense contractor Raytheon -- ought to be exempted from an hours-old executive order banning lobbyists from serving in the administration is a very crass move. If getting an exemption is as simple as being "uniquely qualified," then I fear you'll start hearing a lot of these "indispensable man" arguments down the road.
- Timothy Geithner was approved by the Senate Finance Committee and former Symantec CEO John W. Thompson is reportedly being floated for commerce secretary.
- Despite reports that the Obama administration might put the kibosh on a lame-duck Bush executive order expanding offshore oil drilling, and Al Gore heading to the Hill once again to testify, House Republicans are focusing their energies on delaying the confirmation of both EPA head-designate Lisa Jackson and CEQ head-designate Nancy Sutley. However, the real target could be Carol Browner, who as Energy Czar would act in an position that needn't be confirmed by the Senate.
- Caroline Kennedy withdrew herself from the running to fill Hillary Clinton's Senate seat, although there seems to have been some confusion over whether the withdrawal was for real. Meanwhile New York Gov. David Paterson can't seem to make up his mind on a replacement, even though it's scheduled to be announced tomorrow.
- Freshly minted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has gotten to work at Foggy Bottom, naming George Mitchell Special Envoy for Middle East Peace and Richard Holbrooke Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
- Barack Obama took the oath of office for a second time last night, an act described by a White House attorney as "an abundance of caution." See also "The Wikipedia War Over Obama's Inauguration."
- I can only assume that since Norm Coleman has found a new job he'll immediately drop all those lawsuits against Al Franken, right?
- Dear Dick Cheney: Regarding your disappointment that your former boss did not get around to pardoning your pal Scooter, please review the lyrics of this song. Thanks.
--Mori Dinauer
