Back To Work

We all know things change. Now we need to know just how fast things can change. Remember the first day at your new job? Did you have to do anything, really? After you filled out your W-4 forms and figured out the quickest way to the break room, there wasn't much time for much else. On his first day in office, Barack Obama sat down to meetings on our train wreck of an economy and wars that continue to rage half a world away. His predecessor left a note on his desk that was described as a "good luck" note. Determining the correct inflection on those words would be challenge enough, but the rest of the day's schedule wouldn't allow it.
By the end of the day, the new guy had sponsored a draft of an executive order that would close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within a year and halt all war crimes trials in the meantime as well as imposing a pay freeze for about one hundred White House aides who earn one hundred thousand dollars or more. That last one would be tough news for all those folks who showed up on the first day to find out that their salary had already been capped. So it goes in Obamatown.
He also made a point of getting in a "do-over" on his oath of office, just in case anybody out there was looking for a loophole to squeeze through. Somebody with a very pointy head, for example. All of this, and then Barack and Michelle played host and hostess for a select two hundred at an open house.
"Enjoy yourself, roam around," a smiling Obama told one guest. "Don't break anything."