a new leader

Obama: the first 100 hours
By Andrew Purcell in Washington
BARACK OBAMA spent his first 10 minutes in the Oval Office reading a note that had been left on the desk by George Bush. Courtesy observed, he set about dismantling his predecessor's legacy immediately. Whether the envelope, "To: Number 44, From: Number 43", contained an appeal to keep up the good fight in Iraq or tips on how to operate the White House boiler, it was the last counsel Obama will accept from a man who flew back to Crawford, Texas as the least-popular president ever.
America has a new boyfriend. For as long as the infatuation lasts, all he has to do is be different. An early official photo showed Obama smart casual, in a white shirt and light blue tie, breaking a Bush edict requiring jackets in the office. "Roll up your sleeves and join in the work of remaking this nation," read the imaginary thought bubble. His cuffs stayed buttoned but the look said "a clean break from business as usual" more effectively than any speech.
On Tuesday, two million people waited for hours in the gruelling cold, high on hope, to cheer the USA's first African-American president. They kept warm by booing Bush and dancing a disrespectful polka on his memory. Some threw spare pairs of shoes, others sang "na-na-naa-na, hey-hey-hey, goodbye". In the silver-ticket section, either side of Third Street, it was hard to separate the joy inspired by Obama's arrival from the sheer glee of showing Bush the door.
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Edna Wilkes had come with her grown-up daughter. "We've been waiting eight years. So when the subway opened at four o'clock this morning, we took the first train," she said. "It doesn't matter what Obama does first, because it has to be better than running the country into the ground."
Barbara Cummings, from San Diego, carried a placard reading "I Have A Dream." It showed Bush and Dick Cheney behind bars. "I have very high expectations but he needs to address the crimes of the Bush administration," she said. "It's like going into a house that was just obliterated by a tornado. Where do you even start to pick up the splinters?"
Obama's inaugural address announced his intention to be un-Bush. He is too slick, too careful to proclaim himself the anti-Bush, so the repudiation was couched in polite language, but it was no less powerful as a result. He urged Americans to reject the "false choice" between safety and ideals, to place their faith in science rather than ideology, and to accept that overwhelming military power does not "entitle us to do as we please".
On his first day in the job, he issued two executive orders and three presidential memorandums. These froze pay for executive officials, banned them from lobbying their former colleagues if they leave for the private sector, and relaxed confidentiality clauses that made it too easy for the government to suppress information. "Transparency and rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency," he said. He also suspended all trials at Guantanamo Bay, not quite honouring a pledge to close the prison down.
At the back gate of the White House, 77-year-old peace campaigner Eve Tabaz was climbing into an orange jumpsuit and mask, ready to join four friends in a silent protest. "We are a nation of law. We do not torture. We do not oppress," she said. "I have high hopes, only if the people that were present at the inauguration will continue to express their horror that for the past eight years our constitution has been trampled underfoot. Let him come out and say no more'."
The next day, he did. "This morning, I signed three executive orders," he told reporters at a ceremony to swear in Hillary Clinton as Secretary Of State. "First, I can say without exception or equivocation that the United States will not torture. Second, we will close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and determine how to deal with those who have been held there. And third, we will immediately undertake a comprehensive review to determine how to hold and try terrorism suspects to best protect our nation and the rule of law."
With a left-handed flourish, witnessed by a roomful of retired generals gathered for a photo opportunity, the whole system of rendition, "enhanced interrogation" and military tribunals had been put on notice. Where the remaining Guantanamo detainees will go and how they will be tried are questions for Clinton and Attorney General Eric Holder, assuming he is confirmed next week. As a Los Angeles Times editorial noted: "Obama put off many of the most difficult decisions."
For now, symbolism will suffice. The executive pay freeze was no more than a gesture. Together with the introduction of a daily economic briefing, similar to the intelligence updates he receives from the CIA, it was intended to show that Obama understands the pressure on middle-class Americans. "Families are tightening their belts," he said, "and so should Washington." The politically fraught business of passing a $900-billion stimulus plan that is acceptable to both parties has only just begun.
The government's willingness to throw huge sums of money at the crisis has inevitably created a queue of interest groups framing their demands in terms of economic necessity. To Al Gore, green energy is the remedy for all ills. Ted Kennedy has insisted that "healthcare can't wait".
George McGovern wrote a column in the Washington Post advising Obama to cut his losses in Afghanistan and invest the savings back home, to avoid suffering the same fate as the British Empire and the Soviet Union.
Microsoft's announcement of 5000 redundancies was a grim reminder that the economic collapse is more than a recession. Meeting with Congressional leaders on Friday, Obama reiterated his belief that America is facing an "unprecedented economic crisis that has to be dealt with, and dealt with rapidly."
There are precedents, of course. The most commonly cited, not least by Obama himself, is the Great Depression. This casts him as the second coming of Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose inaugural address is as appropriate at the moment as it was on March 4, 1933, despite sailing a little close to socialism for contemporary American tastes.
"Values have shrunk to fantastic levels, taxes have risen, our ability to pay has fallen, government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income," Roosevelt said. "The withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment."
Obama hopes to replicate the success of Roosevelt's first hundred days, in which Congress passed every piece of legislation he asked for, including the Emergency Banking Act, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, and a suspension of the gold standard.
New presidents usually enjoy a spell of bi-partisan goodwill, but it never lasts. Republicans complained about the level of government spending in the stimulus plan at Friday's meeting. Obama reportedly replied: "I won". He is determined to push through his legislative agenda, and popular enough to do so.
A USA Today poll found that by a margin of six to one, Americans feel more hopeful about the next four years than they did before Obama's inauguration. Leroy Collins drove 600 miles from Kokomo, Indiana for the event. "I work for Chrysler," he said. "I worry about my job every day and I'm gonna worry about it again tomorrow. But what's happening right now, as an African-American, is bigger than that, and I thank God that I could be here to see it."
Stallholders did brisk trade in T-shirts hailing Obama as the culmination of the civil rights struggle, a claim he avoids making for himself. "You don't got your merchandise, you don't got bragging rights," shouted one man. Another offered a "genuine photo of Obama and King in the Oval Office. It'll make you cry."
As we waited to get out of the Mall, lawyer James Ely, a Republican, told me :"I don't agree with him about a lot of things, but it's just a relief to have a president who respects the constitution again." Bush's final approval rating of 22% is the lowest since Nixon's at the height of the Watergate scandal. Obama inherits an economy in freefall, a trillion-dollar deficit and two wars with no obvious exit strategy. The gift wrapped in all this calamity is that compared to the last guy, he can only look good.
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ALEX SALMOND, FIRST MINISTERThe Scottish Cabinet marked Barack Obama's historic inauguration by interrupting our weekly meeting last Tuesday to watch live coverage of the event, which was truly epoch-making in the changes it represented for America and for the world.
The level of expectation thrust upon the new US President is enormous, but he is aware of that and ensured his inauguration speech was tempered with realism.
That address, with its message of hope triumphing over fear and its call for a new "era of responsibility" in addressing the challenges we face as a global society, was inspiring and pointed the way to President Obama's immediate priorities in office.
His rapid action in moving to end the military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay, coupled with the order signalling the closure of the facility itself, underlines his intention to back up words with action. Similarly, his phone calls on his very first day in office to various Middle Eastern leaders, including the President of the Palestinian Authority, show that the new President is determined to be an honest broker for peace in the region.
As I said immediately after President Obama's inauguration, his inauguration is a turning point and expectations are high - but it is always better to have high expectations than none at all.
JIM MURPHY, SECRETARY OF STATE FOR SCOTLANDOn Friday, I was in the Gorbals with the prime minister meeting apprentices when President Obama called to speak to Gordon. This was a fitting setting for their first conversation since the inauguration as on both sides of the Atlantic we are meeting the challenges of today by investing in the future.
The great quality of America's new president is his call to not shy away from the challenges and threats we face but to meet them head on. In speaking both to his fellow citizens and to the community of nations - including ours - Obama reminds us that the big things worth doing are rarely easy. Scots appreciate this; we have experience of overcoming adversity, finding new paths to success and keeping our hearts and minds warmed with a canny optimism.
ELAINE C SMITH, ACTRESSWhen I was a kid I always wanted to be American. Television made it look really glamorous and exciting, and it was a place that I always dreamed would be wonderful to live well I was in a mining village in Lanarkshire!
The reality of the US was a more mixed picture, of course. As I grew up, the spectacle of the Kennedy assassinations, race riots and Martin Luther King, Vietnam, Nixon and later "the twa Bushes" dampened much of the enthusiasm I once had.
The day Obama was inaugurated was the first time in many years that I wished I was in the US, and American. I wished I was part of it as I stood in front of my TV and cried.
What has happened there is truly momentous - not just because of Obama's colour but because of the type of man he is - intelligent, open, loving and a truth-seeker. The fact that non-believers were mentioned in his speech along with believers in religion demonstrated a tolerance not seen in our fundamentalist world for a long time.
The announcement on Guantanamo demonstrates that he is a President who understands that America is part of the world and that the rest of the planet is influenced by what the US does and says. In his first 100 days he can achieve much. He has so much goodwill and support that will carry and support all his decisions.
There is a Churchill quote which I love: "You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing, especially when they have exhausted every other opportunity".
America has done the right thing with Obama and the world can breath a sigh of relief at least for the first 100 days.
IAIN GRAY, HOLYROOD LABOUR LEADERObama has ticked most of the boxes: the right tone and message in his inauguration speech and immediate action on Guantanamo Bay and CIA prisons. He has sent out a clear message about human rights. Part of Obama's appeal is he connects on both a cerebral and visceral level. His family looked great on Capitol Hill and he showed he can shake it up on the dance floor.
What I admire in Obama is he has introduced the politics of thoughtfulness in the age of the glib soundbite. He is indeed a serious man for serious times. He is a unifier and has the potential to instigate real change both in America and on the world stage. Will he be able to fulfil it? You could easily list 100 reasons why not, but yes, he can.
TOM DEVINE, HISTORIANIt was important Obama kept faith with some of his key promises as early in his presidency as possible, and this he has done with fast and decisive action. Already he has established clear blue water between his administration and that of the discredited Bush regime.
I like his choice of key ministers and advisers; a mix of highly experienced people with glittering CVs and relative newcomers with considerable potential.
On the other hand, Obama has been elected on the basis of grossly inflated expectations at a time when the US faces a vast array of challenges. He will only be able to deliver, if at all, on a very few of these. One of the first things he should do is use his mastery of oratory to educate the American public about what is and is not possible.
STUART COSGROVE, BROADCASTERBarack Obama's inauguration was compelling and distracting in equal measure. I celebrated it in a bar at Manchester airport.
What struck me was the youthful exuberance, the elegant clothes, the choreographed dance steps but ,most of all, the profound break with racism.
It emphasised the importance of Washington DC. It exists on the cusp of north and south and in the words of funk musician George Clinton is a "chocolate city with vanilla suburbs".
I had the privilege of studying in DC and it was great to see the Howard University marching band striding down Pennsylvania Avenue.
Howard is one of the centres of African-American leadership and an institution whose day had come.
PHILIP SCHLESINGER, PROFESSOR IN CULTURAL POLICY, GLASGOW UNIVERSITYPresident Obama has made a promising start. From the dignity of his inauguration to his ease on the dance floor, he has told us something about who he is. His journey to highest office as an African-American of outstanding talent is truly inspiring.
Obama has quickly broken with the Bush years, signalling an end to the Guantanamo human rights abuses. He has begun to rectify a derelict US policy in the Middle East. Finding a diplomatic route to Iran is imperative. But will he get it right in Afghanistan? Can his administration turn round the US economy? The first days have given us hope in dark times ... for the first time in eight years we can welcome signs of truly intelligent life in the White House.
ARCHI MACPHERSON, WRITER, BROADCASTERI sat with white middle-class Americans in a house in Florida watching almost the entire day's proceedings and was struck not just by the uninhibited admiration they expressed for their new president, but by the display of anxiety for his safety which continually nags at their hopes for his success. When he alighted from his armoured car and started his walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, the hostess simply gasped: "Get back in the car for God's sake!". Those who adore him fear his uniqueness makes him especially vulnerable. Obama's coolness in the early hours and particularly his refusal to make light of Justice Steven's oath mix-up suggests that his first mode of protection from hostility will not be the Secret Service, but intellectual sobriety.
PROFESSOR ALAN MILLER, CHAIR, SCOTTISH HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION"It is to be hoped that the symbolism and signals from the early days of the Obama presidency have a far-reaching and lasting effect in contributing to the building of a better world for us all.
I could not help but feel whilst watching his inaugural speech that it was not so much that on that occasion "we were all Americans" but more that "we are all part of humanity" and that America was rejoining our common cause in building a better world for all.
This was not just because of the demonstrable break with the Bush presidency as illustrated by the executive orders to end some of the worst aspects of the "war on terror" such as the closure of Guantanamo, prohibition of torture and restatement of the rule of law at home and abroad.
Nor was it just because of witnessing the first African-American family in the White House although who could not have been moved by the dignity of the elderly black man in the Mall silently rising to his feet and raising his head to the sky when Obama recounted that only 60 years ago his own father could have been refused service in a Washington restaurant.
It is simply that in these early days Obama has reflected and appealed to the best instincts of us all - the instincts of common humanity.
His words that "As the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself" resonated with myself as someone whose human rights work has taken me to many parts of the world and introduced me to many individuals from a diversity of nationalities, races and faiths and whose lives are so impacted by decisions made in the White House.
So, the pledges to embrace change and celebrate diversity of humanity, to promote global sustainable development and to combat climate change and restore science to its rightful place, to uphold international law and human values do recognise the needs of humanity in these challenging times.
Of course Obama remains to be tested in all of these pledges - and not least in contributing to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.
He will not meet the expectations of all and is not a messiah but would appear to be more a builder of consensus for change.
Perhaps the most far-reaching and profound consequence of his presidency will ironically not be what he personally accomplishes. It will be what each and all of us do and particularly the new generation who are becoming energised and inspired to become active in seeking a better world. It is this generation which will need to go further than Obama will be able to do in his term of office.
This was captured by the response of a young African-American woman who responded to a sceptical BBC journalist by declaring "Don't you get it. It's Yes We Can, not Yes Obama Can!"
Personally, as a child of the 60s, this spirit reminds me of that era and it is the energising of that spirit which is the most significant early impact of the Obama presidency."
JUDITH ROBERTSON, OXFAM SCOTLANDIn his inauguration speech President Obama's said, " we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it. "
One of the things that has to change is for the two billion people around the world who are living in poverty to be given the chances that so many take for granted. No one is suggesting that President Obama can wipe out global poverty in one hundred days but he should put down a marker that this issue is back on the agenda.
I would like to see President Obama introduce a package that puts in place effective and sufficient aid that would help support health and education in the developing world, also to introduce strong climate legislation in the US that not only cuts US emissions but provides significant assistance to the most poor and vulnerable communities both in his own country and around the world.
Such actions would create a better world not only for the lifetime of his presidency but beyond that. As the father of two young daughters the world's most powerful man has the chance to create a better world not only for them but also for millions of others around the globe.
GRAEME BROWN, DIRECTOR, SHELTER SCOTLANDThe unknowns always make walking into a new job a nervy business. But for Obama, his "known known" * to quote another American * was that he was taking on a country from which the global credit squeeze originated. Poor lending decisions as people reached to get on the property ladder led to the US sub-prime repossession crisis and the worldwide knock on effects.
His broad appeal certainly led to his overwhelming election success but a great many of his supporters are those in the inner cities; people who are poor and African Americans. For them, he needs to deliver a major public housing investment programme to help rebuild shattered communities.
The need to deliver social housing to pick up the fall-out from the burst bubble of the homeownership dream chimes loudly not just for the US, but also our own politicians. We can only hope that if Obama prioritises housing his people in their time of need that Scotland and the UK follow.