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What has Obama done in 6 months?

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proud2BlibKansan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-23-09 09:54 AM
Original message
What has Obama done in 6 months?
Signed executive orders to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within a year, ban torture and end the CIA’s secret overseas prisons and define treatment of Detainees.

Reversed restrictions on stem cell research.

Signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Reducing discrimination based on gender, age, religion, or race.

Signed an executive order reversing the ban that prohibits funding to international family planning groups that provide abortions. Gag rule revoked (Mexico City policy).

Creates the White House Council on Women and Girls "to provide a coordinated federal response to the challenges confronted by women and girls and to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies consider how their policies and programs impact women and families."

Signed a Presidental Memorandum extending federal benefits to same-sex partners of federal workers and announced support for the Domestic Partners Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009.

Reverses U.S. position on LGBT Issues at the UN: At the "Durban Review Conference," U.S. supports language condemning “all forms of discrimination and all other human rights violations based on sexual orientation.”

Signed executive order requiring federal contractors to offer jobs to current workers when contracts change.

Reversed a Bush order requiring federal contractors to post notice that workers can limit financial support of unions serving as their exclusive bargaining representatives.

Signed executive order preventing federal contractors from being reimbursed for expenses meant to influence workers deciding whether to form a union and engage in collective bargaining.

Created a foreclosure prevention fund for homeowners.

Expanded eligibility for the refinancing portion of the Making Home Affordable plan to help Americans struggling with distressed mortgages refinance at lower interest rates, even if they owe up to 25 percent more than their homes are now worth.

Established a credit card "bill of rights".

Expanded loan programs for small businesses.

Extended and index the 2007 Alternative Minimum Tax patch.

Expanded eligibility for State Children's Health Insurance Fund (SCHIP).

Expanded funding to train primary care providers and public health practitioners.

Created a new White House task force on the problems of middle-class Americans, and installed Vice President Joe Biden as its chairman.

Appoints Vice President Joe Biden to Oversee Stimulus Plan Payouts.

Granted a reprieve to Liberian immigrants facing imminent expulsion.

Directed military leaders to end war in Iraq.

Allowing Caskets to be photographed when the return from Iraq with family approval.

Released nine previously secret internal Justice Department memos and opinions defining the legal limits of government power in combating terrorism.

On Arab TV Network, Obama Urges Dialogue.

Gave a speech in Cairo engaging the Muslim and Arab world.

Bars independent contractors from conducting interrogations of terror suspects.

Granted Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send money to Cuba.

Ordered the release of nearly a quarter of a million pages of records from the Reagan White House that were kept from the public during a lengthy review by President George W. Bush.

Restored funding for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne/JAG) program.

Released presidential records.

Required new hires to sign a form affirming their hiring was not due to political affiliation or contributions.

Pushed for enactment of Matthew Shepard Act, which expands hate crime law to include sexual orientation and other factors.

Invites gay families to the Easter Egg Roll as part of the Obama administration's outreach to diverse communities.

Created a White House Office on Urban Policy.

Increased funding for the NEA.

Appointed an assistant to the president for science and technology policy.

Funded a major expansion of AmeriCorps.

Banned lobbyist gifts to executive employees.

Investment in all types of alternative energy.

Enacted tax credit for consumers for plug-in hybrid cars.

Support for high-speed rail.

Provided grants to encourage energy-efficient building codes.

Extended unemployment insurance benefits and temporarily suspend taxes on these benefits.

Created the White House Council on Automotive Communities and Workers to help auto industry workers transition to new manufacturing opportunities, including jobs in alternative energy.

Stopped raids on medical marijuana dispensers.

Nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court of the United States. If confirmed, Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic to ever serve on the Supreme Court.

Appointed more than 60 openly LGBT persons to positions in the executive branch.

Issues Presidential Proclamation for Pride, proclaiming June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.

Signed a mercury reduction pact with 140 other nations.

Signed the Weapons System Acquisition Reform Act to curb wasteful spending by the Pentagon. Intended to price contracts and budgets lower; may potentially save billions of dollars in defense.

Signed the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009, which serves to protect two million acres of land and creates a new system of land conservation for the Bureau of Land Management.

Phase out government payments to crop producers making more than $500,000 a year and eliminates subsidies for cotton storage to help trim the U.S. budget deficit.

Cut funding for a proposed U.S. nuclear storage facility at Yucca Mountain.

Restored Endangered Species Act Provision requiring U.S. agencies consult with independent federal experts to determine if their actions might harm threatened and endangered species.

Orders The Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration "to protect and restore the health, heritage, natural resources, and social and economic value of the Nation's largest estuarine ecosystem and the natural sustainability of its watershed."

Signed the 2009 Omnibus Public Land Management Act designating two million additional acres of public wilderness areas the highest level of government protection from logging and other forms of commercial use and development.

Signed the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act which will expedite the search for cures and treatments for millions of Americans living with paralysis caused by spinal cord injury, stroke, MS, Parkinson's and many other diseases and disorders.

Established The Joint Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record, a new system for updating medical records of servicemen and women both during and after their military careers.

Established the White House Office of Health Reform

Created new and stronger safety standards to safeguard the country's food supply.

and

Got his daughters a new puppy!
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Skink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-23-09 09:59 AM
Response to Original message
1. and that was just before lunch.
:
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Cant trust em Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-23-09 10:00 AM
Response to Original message
2. Can we quit talking about the dog?
Adding this to the list of accomplishments just makes the poster sound like a fanboy.

I do think that his time in office has been great, but let's just talk about the real accomplishments.
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proud2BlibKansan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-23-09 10:52 AM
Response to Reply #2
10. I liked that part
Thought it brought it all back down to earth. Makes him seem more like the people he is serving.

I got this in an email and loved it. The puppy was my favorite part. :)
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Gidney N Cloyd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-23-09 10:00 AM
Response to Original message
3. Yet ponies remain conspicuously absent...
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countingbluecars Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-23-09 10:05 AM
Response to Original message
4. K&R! n/t
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JimGinPA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-23-09 10:12 AM
Response to Original message
5. Yeah, But Katie's Pissed That He's Taking A Vacation
K&R
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goclark Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-23-09 10:24 AM
Response to Reply #5
6. I didn't hear about that one


And all the days that we had to look at the entrance to Crawford TX.
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proud2BlibKansan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-23-09 10:54 AM
Response to Reply #6
11. I spent way too much time standing at that entrance
Still repulses me to remember those days. :puke:
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HughMoran Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-23-09 10:28 AM
Response to Original message
7. but other than that, pretty much nothing
:rofl:
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Senator Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-23-09 10:50 AM
Response to Original message
8. He did not "ban" torture.
You simply can't "ban" something that's been a war crime for generations. Worse, claiming the power to "ban" torture by definition claims the power to "unban" it at will.

Similarly with "closing" Gitmo. The problem is not the place. Shifting detainees to Bagram and proposing "preventative detention" makes things worse, not better.

I too wish he had chosen instead to abide by and enforce the laws and treaty obligations our greater generations fought and died to forge. But he didn't.

What he has done for 6 months is drive the torture getaway car.

Torture remains his http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Senator/17">Steroids Problem.

==
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HiFructosePronSyrup Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-23-09 10:51 AM
Response to Reply #8
9. He banned torture.
Get over it.
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Senator Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-23-09 11:06 AM
Response to Reply #9
12. Then he can unban it, right?
Not even bush claimed the power to torture or not by fiat.

Rhetoric is not reality.

--
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HiFructosePronSyrup Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-23-09 11:09 AM
Response to Reply #12
13. Bush did claim the power to torture.
Odd that you'd defend Bush on torture, while attack Obama for banning it.

Hmm.
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proud2BlibKansan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-23-09 11:25 AM
Response to Reply #13
14. Very interesting
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Spazito Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-23-09 11:29 AM
Response to Reply #13
15. Good catch!
Definitely Hmmmm.
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Senator Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-23-09 11:37 AM
Response to Reply #13
16. Odd that you don't answer the question.
And instead falsely claim I'm defending bushcheney.

Sadly, it's Obama that's defending bushcheney http://talkingimpeachment.com/blog/Hall-of-Shame-Inductee----Barak-Obama.html">and has been for years.

But FWIW, I'll ask again. Didn't Obama claim the power ban and unban torture?

--
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brentspeak Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-23-09 12:00 PM
Response to Original message
17. "Established a credit card 'Bill of Rights'"
Edited on Thu Jul-23-09 12:05 PM by brentspeak
Give us a break. Check out http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6129890">this DU thread in GD; another DUer explains how CitiBank is pushing an "allow us to raise your interest rate to over 14.99% or else have your card cancelled" extortion scheme. Nothing significant has changed. There is no real credit card reform; just some legislation with a heroic-sounding name.
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