This just focuses on actions taken by Obama or by his administration without all the other news of unemployment rates, jobless rates, republicans.... It's just to separate out the movement or decisions he has or hasn't made this week. This isn't a complete list. If you see something that should be added, let me know, I will edit this post.
For Week 2 and Week 1 See my journal.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/GinaMariaFebruary 2, 2009 Monday1. Barack Obama has warned senate Republicans not to let "modest" differences delay his massive $819bn stimulus plan aimed at reviving the struggling US economy.
2. President Barack Obama is ordering a “complete review” of the Food and Drug Administration after it failed to detect shipments of salmonella-contaminated peanut products that have sickened more than 500 people and may be linked to as many as eight deaths, he told TODAY co-host Matt Lauer.
3. House Democrats launch radio ads against Republicans who opposed stimulus, health bills: The DCCC says its "Putting Families First" campaign focuses on the Republicans' "out of step priorities by putting bank bail outs and building schools in Iraq before the needs of the Americans in the struggling economy."
February 3, 2009 Tuesday4. Obama and S.Korea's Lee vow to fight protectionism: Obama was quoted as telling Lee that trading states should fight the temptation to revert to protectionism, in the two leaders' first telephone conversation since Obama took office, Lee's spokesman said.
5. Holder sworn in as attorney general
6. Obama Devising Ways To Limit Executive Pay: The Obama administration is tackling the bailout of the battered financial sector on two tracks: overhauling how the government spends the money while devising new executive compensation restrictions for banks that get it.
7. Obama blames himself for mishandling Daschle: President Barack Obama took responsibility for mistakes in the handling of the tax controversy that led to Tom Daschle's withdrawal as President Barack Obama's nominee to be health and human services secretary.
8. Dozens of secret Bush surveillance, executive power memos found; Could be made public: Obama's freshly-confirmed Attorney General Eric Holder told senators that he was open to declassifying White House legal memos if no support for their original classification could be found, signaling a likely showdown with former President George W. Bush over executive privilege.
9. President Obama’s announcement on Tuesday that Senator Judd Gregg, Republican of New Hampshire, is his nominee for commerce secretary offers the latest evidence that Mr. Obama is willing at this early stage to take risks and break at least some of the old rules of politics.
10. On Iran, Obama Plans Talk and Some Toughness: The Obama administration may take a tough line with Tehran in coming months even as it signals a willingness to move toward direct talks with Iranian officials, according to President Obama’s aides and outside experts who have consulted with the government about Iran.
11. Team Obama debuted the post-election version of its grassroots machine, now called Organizing for America, in a message on Tuesday to its list of 13 million e-mail names, inviting them to organize Economic Recovery House Meetings across the country to watch the Kaine video, in which he will answer questions they’ve previously submitted online.
February 4, 2009 Wednesday12. Obama reining in CEO pay: President Obama is backing up his outrage over Wall Street pay with action today, announcing plans to put a $500,000-a-year limit on the salaries of CEOs whose companies dip into the government's financial rescue fund. Firms that want to pay executives more than $500,000 would have to use stock that could not be sold until the firms pay back the government. “In order to restore trust, we’ve got to make certain that taxpayer funds are not subsidizing excessive compensation packages on Wall Street," Obama said. In Curbing Pay, Obama Seeks to Alter Corporate Culture:
13. Goldman Sachs Announces It Would Like to Pay Back TARP Money
14. Today President Obama signed the State Children's Health Insurance Program into law to protect the most vulnerable members of society in a struggling economy -- our kids. Nearly 9 million children have no health insurance, and every time the unemployment rate climbs one percent, another 700,000 children lose their coverage. SCHIP, extends coverage to more than 4 million at-risk children and reverses a Bush era veto.
February 5, 2009 Thursday15. President Obama speaks directly to the people in a Washington Post OP ED expressing the urgency for the need for action on our economy.
16. A fired-up Barack Obama ditched his TelePrompter to rally House Democrats and rip Republican opponents of his recovery package Thursday night – at one point openly mocking the GOP for failing to follow through on promises of bipartisanship.
17. Obama asks Democrats to quickly pass stimulus plan: Pushing Congress to pass his economic plan by next week, President Barack Obama implored House Democrats on Thursday to reject delaying tactics and political gamesmanship that often stymies legislation and keep a promise to voters who booted Republicans from power.
18. U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday expressed concerns about the difficulty of maintaining a focused military mission in Afghanistan as his administration prepares a troop buildup there, sources at a Democratic meeting said. The United States cannot win the war in Afghanistan by military means alone, "needs a clear mission" and a key danger for U.S. forces is "mission creep without clear parameters."
19. Obama admin. seeks treaty to cut US, Russia nukes: The Obama administration, reversing the Bush administration's limited interest in nuclear disarmament, is gearing up for early negotiations with Russia on a new treaty that would sharply reduce stockpiles of nuclear warheads.
20. President Obama signed an executive order on Thursday to create a new White House office for faith-based programs and neighborhood partnerships, building upon the initiatives started by the Bush administration to administer social services to people “no matter their religious or political beliefs.”
February 6, 2009 Friday21. Obama lines up recovery advisers: The diverse, top-flight roster will help provide an all-in-this-together quality to the president’s policies at a time when the country is enduring what is looking more and more like once-in-a-century economic wind shear. The advisory board was drawn from business, labor groups and former government officials to provide an outside perspective on plans to revive the economy.
22. President Obama is expanding the service vision. He wants his renamed Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, which he announced this week, to also push summer learning for disadvantaged kids, and to help reduce abortion. His 25-member council of religious and secular leaders will also act as a sounding board on domestic and foreign policy – for instance, on Muslim outreach. These are worthy activities, but like Bush, this president faces a conundrum over the separation of church and state. In 2000, the Supreme Court ruled that the government may directly fund religious groups, as long as the groups use the money for secular programs.
23. Atheists welcome in Obama's big church: America's perennial culture wars are being fought on a new front as President Barack Obama reaches out to adherents of all religious faiths -- and to atheists too. Unlike any president of modern times, the Democrat has singled out non-believers as an important part of the nation's demographic mix. Secularists are impressed, the Christian right less so.
24. Obama appoints gay man to faith-based initiatives office.
25. Obama rejects 'petty politics' of stimulus foes: President Barack Obama has fired a biting campaign-style attack on Republicans and the former Bush administration, seeking to drive his 900 billion dollar stimulus plan through Congress.
26. Poll shows Obama atop list of most respected: President Barack Obama has catapulted past the Dalai Lama as the most respected world leader among West Europeans and Americans, according to a poll released Friday.
27. Saying that he wanted to leave no stone unturned in finding ways to put people back to work, President Obama on Friday appointed a team of outside economic advisers to offer suggestions on ways to respond to the nation’s recession.
28. Obama Meets With Family Members of U.S.S. Cole, 9/11 Victims: President Obama on Friday assured family members of Americans who were killed in the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole and in the Sept. 11 attacks that the terror suspects will be prosecuted and brought “to a swift and certain justice.”
29. Obama Calls Delays on Stimulus ‘Inexcusable and Irresponsible’
30. Two officials say the White House is considering at least two troop withdrawal options for Iraq. One would preserve President Barack Obama’s campaign pledge to get out within 16 months, and another would keep some combat forces there until the end of 2010. A third in-between option of 19 months is also being weighed.
31. Obama executive order favors union labor
32. President Barack Obama is abandoning a Bush administration appeal of an air pollution case, signaling that the government will embrace tougher rules to cut mercury emissions from power plants. The case was soon to come before the Supreme Court. The Obama administration submitted papers Friday to the court asking for the case to be dismissed.
February 7, 2009 Saturday33. President Obama urged Congress on Saturday to swiftly resolve its differences in the sweeping economic recovery measure and “put this plan in motion” to bring fiscal relief and new jobs to all corners of the country.
February 8, 2009 Sunday34. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said President Barack Obama will steer “substantial” funds to stem foreclosures as the administration prepares to unveil its plan for stabilizing the economy.
35. Analysis: Biden promises foreign policy shifts: The Obama administration promises sweeping changes in American foreign policy, and some U.S. adversaries are nibbling the bait. Vice President Joe Biden hit most of the right notes in his Munich speech this weekend
36. Obama puts brake on Afghan surge: PRESIDENT Barack Obama has demanded that American defense chiefs review their strategy in Afghanistan before going ahead with a troop surge.
February 9, 2009 Monday37. In an effort to build support for his signature economic stimulus plan, Mr. Obama is setting off for Indiana on Monday, holding his first prime-time news conference on Monday night and heading to Florida on Tuesday. In both states, he will be working to counter Republican criticism of his $800 billion recovery package and take greater control of the debate.
38. Obama Administration Maintains Bush Position on 'Extraordinary Rendition' Lawsuit.