The Obama administration goes to work

With the Obama administration in the White House for less than 24 hours, it has already gone to work to reverse some of its predecessor's decisions and broader policies. I awoke this morning to the promising news Obama had issued an executive order to suspend military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay for 120 days. This mandate followed an announcement of a complete review of Bush directives. And the inclusion of LGBT rights on the new White House homepage. Change has certainly begun!

Obama's inauguration certainly marks a monumental milestone in American history, but his administration and the arguably unrealistic expectations under which it will govern pose a conundrum as I pointed out on a WNYC blog yesterday. The arguable long national nightmare of the last eight years of the Bush administration is mercifully earlier, but perhaps we can all take stock of Obama's message of personal responsibility and self-determination in the midst of seemingly innumerable odds. Today is indeed a new day, and hopefully the American people will continue to take note of that as the country confronts the tasks at hand.