What should have been a triumphant week for the president has been tarnished by the stupid firing of USDA employee Shirley Sherrod and all the controversy surrounding it. So, here’s a partial list of things Obama has done so far this week. Click on the links to learn more.
- Issued an Executive Order on the Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and the Great Lakes.
Signed the The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009, creating the strongest consumer protections in our country’s history.
Signed the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act (pdf) as a part of his Accountable Government Initiative, saving us tens of billions of dollars in erroneous payments.
Ushered the Tribal Law and Order Act through Congress.
Finally got the Senate to extend unemployment insurance.
Nominated marshals and judges and ambassadors (all career Senior Foreign Service members, by the way).
Expanded the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Target for Federal Operations.
In conjunction with this announcement today, Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Hilda L. Solis, Secretary of Labor, Martha Johnson, Administrator of the General Services Administration, and Ronald Sims, Deputy Secretary of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development convened a Clean Energy Economy Forum on Federal leadership in High Performance Sustainable Building.
Saw the Senate Judiciary Committee approve Elena Kagan’s nomination and send it the floor.
And hosted UK Prime Minister David Cameron.
Look around the progressive blogosphere (including here) and see what people are talking about. They aren’t talking about Obama reducing greenhouse emissions from federal employee travel and commuting 13% by 2020. They’re not talking about him implementing the recommendations of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force. They’re not talking about saving us billions in wasted government payouts. They’re not talking about new money and resources to help Tribal law enforcement. They’re barely talking about the historic Wall Street Reforms.
You want to know why people are frustrated and unmotivated? It isn’t just compromise and obstruction. It’s that we don’t pay attention to what is getting accomplished and focus way too much on the negative. How many of you knew about all the stuff on that list? Where else would you have learned about it?