Obama's busy first full day as president

by Frank James

With the pomp and ceremony of his inauguration as the nation's first African American commander-in-chief largely behind him, President Barack Obama was expected on his first full day in the Oval Office to take up the three main challenges facing his new administration: the dismal economy and the nation's two military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Obama was scheduled to meet with his national security team and his top military commanders on Wednesday and to hold another meeting with his economic team.

The new president signaled at one of his Tuesday evening inaugural balls that his administration would be fully engaged in governing from its first full day. "Tonight, we celebrate. Tomorrow, the work begins," Obama told the gathered military members and their families at the Commander-in-Chief's ball on Tueday evening.

Before the major national-security and economic meetings, however, Obama had a few more inauguration-related activities to do. He attended the traditional national prayer service at the National Cathedral. Then there was a White House open house where new presidents traditionally greet well-wishers, typically members of the public who stream through a receiving line.

During the presidential campaign, Obama vowed that on his first day in the White House he would call the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs of Staff into a meeting and tell them of his desire to wind down the Iraq War.

Obama promised during the campaign to have U.S. combat troops out of Iraq 16 months after taking office. He also vowed to increase the number of U.S. military forces in Afghanistan where the Taliban and other extremists have been increasing their violent attacks against forces of NATO and the Afghanistan government.

So today's meeting can be viewed as Obama's effort to keep his promise to start the shift in emphasis from Iraq to Afghanistan.

Gen. David Petraeus, the architect of the military surge strategy credited with reducing violence in Iraq and now the commander of U.S. Central Command, with responsibility for Iraq and Afghanistan, is scheduled to be in Washington to meet with Obama.

Even before the inauguration balls started, Obama had conducted some official acts.

His administration asked for a suspension of Guantanamo trials for detainees so it could review the cases and the procedures. A federal court approved the request Wednesday morning.

Obama also ordered federal agencies to freeze any action on federal regulations promulgated in the Bush Administration's waning days so that they could be reviewed as well.

As the Associated Press reported:

While Obama gets to work in earnest at the White House, Congress planned to do its part.

Among the possibilities for the first day was the naming of a Middle East envoy, critical at a time of renewed hostilities between Israelis and the Palestinians; an order closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a move that will take considerable time to execute and comes on the heels of a suspension of war crimes trials there pending a review; prohibiting -- in most cases -- the harsh interrogation techniques for suspected terrorists that have damaged the U.S. image around the globe; overturning the so-called Mexico City policy that forbids U.S. funding for family planning programs that offer abortion; and lifting President George W. Bush's limit on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.