President Obama’s plans to increase the average car’s mileage to 35.5 MPG and reduce auto emissions by 2016 may sound like a victory for just about everyone. While it may be so in the future, the immediate impact on you and me might not feel like a victory.

The immediate price to the customer will be higher car prices and a less choice in vehicle size. The large vehicles that Americans have come to know and love will be harder to find and much more expensive.

Here are ten ways the new plan will affect you and me:

1. Your next car costs about $1,300 more than it would have without Obama’s plan. This is based on the government’s estimates of the cost of the technology to put you a higher-mileage, lower-polluting car. The $1,300 figure is, of course, only a government estimate and critics say it’s going to be a lot more. The government has never proven its ability to accurately estimate the cost of projects in which it is involved.

2. Used car prices are going up. New cars will cost more and may be less desirable so more people will hang onto older cars. This will reduce supply and increase demand for used cars on the market and drive up prices.

3. Pollution will not be reduced anytime soon. The worst 10% of the cars on the road cause over half the emissions. People who drive the worst 10% of the cars on the road are least likely to be able to afford newer, cleaner cars. The government is actually considering incentives for people who scrap their old cars. The older cars that stay on road (because new cars cost too much) will prevent some of the promised pollution and mpg gains.

4. A win for the automakers. They already manufacture lower-emissions cars to meet the existing California laws. Automakers hate having separate rules for California (and the dozen or so states the follow California’s rule) and the rest of the U.S. They will no longer have to make two versions of each car.

5. An even bigger win for Japanese, Korean, and Chinese automakers. Asian automakers produce a higher proportion of fuel-efficient cars already. U.S. automakers are way behind. They will have five years to catch up…but can they do it?

6. Also a win for European automakers that get another chance to show how efficient diesels can be and convince the U.S. that they are better than hybrids.

7. A win for mass transit…maybe. As cars cost more and fuel prices increase people will have more incentive to park their cars and ride the bus or train. But, will the money be available to construct these systems and where will it come from?

8. We will pay more for gas. Economists say that higher fuel prices – by which they mean more taxes – will force Americans to buy more efficient cars…if they can afford them, that is. Politicians hope that higher mileage cars will reduce oil consumption and avoid the need to punish Americans by raising taxes. However, f car mileage goes up and fuel consumption goes down tax revenues will go down with too. As that happens the government will have to either reduce spending or raise the tax rate to make up the difference. Which do you think they will choose?

9. America will be safer. By reducing demand for oil we lessen our dependency on and control by foreign nations that don’t like us and want to destroy us.

10. The government gets more control of what we drive and we get less. Only you can decide if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

On Tuesday President Obama will announce his plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from new cars and trucks by 30% by 2016, while ending a dispute between the auto industry and California over state-level emissions laws.

The announcement fills in a cornerstone of Obama’s vowed reworking of the U.S. auto industry, which he had promised to push toward more efficient models. What’s still unclear is just how the industry will pay for the improvements, especially with Chrysler surviving on government loans and General Motors Corp. in line to become majority-owned by the U.S. Treasury.

The announcement by the president Tuesday will include executives from automakers and officials from several states, including Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, whose appearance at the White House had sparked speculation about a Supreme Court nomination.

The deal will fulfill a campaign promise by Obama to allow California’s law limiting carbon-dioxide emissions from vehicles to go into effect. The Bush administration’s had blocked a federal waiver that would have allowed the rules to go forward in California and 13 other states.

Because vehicles emit carbon dioxide any time they burn fuel, the new rules amounted to a mileage standard, something domestic and foreign automakers argued only the federal government had the power to set.

Automakers have been fighting California’s efforts to limit global warming emissions for years, saying the rules were too strict — targeting an average of about 35 m.p.g. by 2016 — and could lead to a patchwork of rules in different states.

The new rule is expected to let California keep its own program targeting carbon emissions from vehicles. It wasn’t immediately clear this afternoon how the administration would measure the progress toward the target.

A senior administration official who would not comment on the topic of the meeting said earlier today that Granholm would be coming to the White House on Tuesday. The Associated Press reported last week that Granholm is on Obama’s short list to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court but the official – who wouldn’t be identified because the meeting and its topic had not yet been made public – said the meeting was unrelated to the Supreme Court.

University of Notre Dame students who plan to protest the school’s awarding of an honorary degree to President Barack Obama on campus during commencement Sunday are calling for a peaceful, prayerful approach.

“We believe a lot more can be accomplished through prayerful, respectful witness than can be accomplished in angry protest,” said Michele Sagala, a graduating senior and member of ND Response, a coalition of student groups who oppose the school’s decision to award an honorary degree to Obama because of his support of abortion rights and embryonic stem-cell research.

Not all those who plan to be on campus Sunday, though, intend to honor the request by ND Response that they refrain from using graphic images and signs. Anti-abortion activist Randall Terry, who already faces a trespassing charge after being arrested on campus May 1 while pushing a stroller containing a doll covered in fake blood, said members of his group, The Society for Truth and Justice, plan to be arrested and to carry graphic signs.

“If Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks had played by the rules that these kids are proposing, Barack Obama would still be on the back of the bus,” he said.

ND Response has received permission from the university to hold a protest on the west end of the South Quad, starting with an all-night prayer vigil starting Saturday night, a rally Sunday afternoon and another prayer vigil for students choosing not to attend the commencement.

Notre Dame’s rules for protests and demonstrations require organizers to be registered with the school and that the protests be led by members of the university community, university spokesman Dennis Brown said. The demonstrations also must be orderly and peaceful.

Eric Scheidler, communications director for the Pro-Life Action League, said members of his group plan to follow the wishes of ND Response members while on campus, but will have members holding graphic signs on public sidewalks along the outskirts of campus.

John Daly, an ND Response spokesman, said he expects 20 to 30 graduating seniors skip commencement and attend the prayer vigil. Sagala will be among them.

“I feel like taking a stand for my faith is something that Notre Dame trained me to do,” she said.

Greer Hannan, another ND Response member who also is graduating, said she and others plan to attend the commencement but to protest Obama’s presence by putting a yellow cross with yellow baby’s feet on either side atop her mortarboard.

“To express our extreme disappointment with the university for inviting Obama to be the commencement speaker but also to call on President Obama to reconsider his positions on life issues,” she said.

Notre Dame is the second of three schools to feature Obama as commencement speaker. He spoke at Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz. on Wednesday and is slated to speak at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., on May 22.

Arizona State University officials opted not to give Obama an honorary degree typically awarded to commencement speakers, claiming the president needs to accomplish more to earn the degree. But the president shrugged off the decision, telling graduates he embraces the notion that he has more to learn and challenging them to find new sources of energy and never to rely on past achievement.

First Lady Michelle Obama hit Manhattan Tuesday afternoon, visiting the Big Apple for the first time since the inauguration telling folks at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations she was “thrilled” about a visit to the Sesame Street studio.

“I never thought I’d be on Sesame Street with Elmo and Big Bird and I was thrilled. I’m still thrilled. I’m on a high. I think it’s probably the best thing I’ve done at the White House.”
Now, the background: United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice welcomed Mrs. Obama to the U.S. UN Mission-across the street from the UN and the Mrs. Obama spoke to about 150 employees for about ten minutes.

Rice– one of President Obama’s earliest supporters-and a former Clinton White House official– introduced theFirst Lady “It is a great honor to welcome the First Lady of the United States,” Rice said. “The folks gathered here are truly the foot soldiers on the front lines of the new administration.” She called the group “tireless, talented and tremendously dedicated” and said they are “making the change in our foreign policy real every day,” according to the pool report.

Rice then went on to praise the First Lady. “You insist on reminding people that your extraordinary life is rooted in the ordinary women that surrounded you,” Rice said. “We love your style, your warmth, your brilliance.”

More from the pool report by the Wall Street Journal’s Amy Chozick (who profiled White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers in the WSJ last week)

Rice “called FLOTUS “wicked smart” and said she had a gift of UNICEF children’s books, light-up pens and soccer-related stuff to Sasha and Malia.

“Because they don’t have enough,” Mrs. Obama interrupted in the background. “I am thrilled to be here,” FLOTUS said, wearing a black print dress with three-quarter length sleeves by Tracy Feith.

She talked about a Tuesday visit to Sesame Street where she talked about healthy eating and nutrition. “I never thought I’d be on Sesame Street with Elmo and Big Bird and I was thrilled. I’m still thrilled. I’m on a high. I think it’s probably the best thing I’ve done at the White House.” FLOTUS thanked Rice and called her a “trusted advisor and friend to the president.” She returned the compliment and said Rice is “wicked smart.”

“Obama told the crowd she has been trying to get to know her new neighbors in Washington. This is Mrs. Obama’ s first visit to New York since she became first lady and her 10th visit to a government agency.

“Her mission, she says, is to put a spotlight on the nation’s employees who may feel underappreciated. 40 long-time U.N. employees sat to the left of the stage. These included Ivan Ferber who has worked at the U.S. Mission to the U.N. for 47 years. “Longer than I’ve been alive,” Obama said, as she thanked Mr. Ferber.

“Other honored employees included: Bruce Rashkow who has worked at the USUN for 38 years and Raymond Boneski who has worked there for 36 years. FLOTUS talked about her recent meetings with schoolchildren in DC and read a letter sent to POTUS by Jack Turner, a first grader and son of Scott Turner, a USUN employee. “Dear Mr. Obama, Can you come to New York ” the letter read. “People are doing bad stuff in New York.”

“FLOTUS joked that Jack has the potential to become the next NYC police commissioner. Obama told another story about the time Ambassador Rice’s 11-year-old son-visiting his mom’s office during take-your-child-to-work day-threw away his ice cream so that he would make a good first impression on the South African ambassador. “That’s diplomacy right there, for an-year-old to dump his ice cream,” Obama said.

“FLOTUS said people who work at state agencies are willing to “sacrifice and roll up their sleeves” and cited the H1N1 virus. “We know now we cannot wall ourselves off from issues that are challenging our neighbors,” she said. “We are rooting for you and we need you, so thank you so much,” Obama said. After the remarks, FLOTUS posed for photos in an eight-floor foyer with employees. Mass. Sen. John Kerry’s sister, Margaret “Peggy” Kerry, works for the U.S. Mission to the U.N. and was in attendance. “I think it’s great” that the first lady is here, she told reporters. “She made the rounds in Washington and now she’s in New York.”

Iran has attacked the United States ahead of a major meeting on the troubled global anti-nuclear arms treaty, slamming U.S. cooperation with Israel and India while ignoring President Barack Obama’s offers of dialogue.

Four working papers prepared for the meeting by Iran and obtained by Reuters show Tehran is redoubling its efforts to draw attention away from its own nuclear program by turning the spotlight on Washington for what it says are clear breaches of the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty, Western diplomats say.

The signatories of the 1970 NPT, which is aimed at halting the spread of nuclear arms and demands that those with atomic arsenals take steps to get rid of them, gather on Monday to prepare for a major conference in 2010 that many countries hope will result in an overhaul of the landmark treaty.

They want the nuclear powers to make good on disarmament pledges and agree on a plan to end loopholes that have enabled states like North Korea, which withdrew from the pact in 2003 and tested a nuclear device in 2006, to develop atomic weapons under cover of civilian nuclear energy programs.

Iran, U.N. diplomats involved in the conference say, has gone on the offensive ahead of the meeting to keep the focus away from its nuclear program, which

The United States and its allies say Iran’s nuclear program is a covert quest for atomic weapons. Tehran denies the charge and has refused to halt uranium enrichment despite three rounds of U.N. sanctions imposed by the Security Council.

In the four papers Iran’s delegation submitted for the May 4-15 NPT conference, Tehran says Washington is in clear breach of the treaty by developing new atomic weapons and providing nuclear aid to Israel and India. Neither country has signed the NPT, but India has nuclear weapons and Israel is presumed to have built up a nuclear arsenal.

Iran also criticizes Washington, Britain and France, for working to prevent it and other developing countries from having complete nuclear energy programs. Diplomats from developing nations say Iran has many supporters on this issue due to fears among poorer states that the rich Western powers want to keep their monopoly on nuclear technology.

But Western diplomats say it may be harder for Iran to divide treaty members than at other NPT meetings in recent years. Obama, in a turnaround from the George W. Bush administration, last month called for a “world without nuclear weapons”, new disarmament talks with Russia and more nuclear cooperation with developing countries.

‘DISARMAMENT OBLIGATIONS OVERLOOKED’

Iran makes no mention in its NPT papers of the new U.S. stance, nor of the fact that Obama has offered direct talks with Iran nearly 30 years after Washington severed ties with Tehran over a hostage crisis.

“Iran is very worried that Obama’s commitment to disarmament … will make it harder to portray the Americans as the enemy,” a Western diplomat said. “The same goes for Obama’s engagement policy. So they (Iran) want to come out punching.”

Under the NPT, the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China were allowed to keep their atomic arsenals but were obliged to enter into talks on getting rid of them.

“The risk of proliferation posed by certain nuclear-weapon states is the most essential and immediate danger threatening the non-proliferation regime,” Iran says in one paper, adding that this should be the focus of this week’s NPT meeting — not the “risks of proliferation of non-nuclear weapon states.”

“Nuclear disarmament obligations have been totally overlooked and access to peaceful nuclear materials and technologies have been denied,” Iran says.

Western diplomats say this is an attempt to draw attention away from what they said was Iran’s own violations of the NPT.

Iran also criticizes the “nuclear-related cooperation of the United States with the Zionist regime” and says the endorsement of the U.S.-India nuclear deal by the world’s top producers of atomic technology had “severely damaged” the NPT by showing that those outside it can get special treatment.

The point of the two-week NPT meeting is to clear a path for a month-long review conference next year, which will take stock of the pact and possibly amend it. Delegates aim to agree on an agenda and make recommendations for the 2010 conference.

The last NPT review conference in 2005 was a failure. Delegates had hoped to agree on a plan of action to repair loopholes in the treaty that enable countries to acquire sensitive atomic technology and to hear from the five major nuclear powers that they are committed to disarming.

But it descended into procedural bickering led by the United States, Iran and Egypt, and accomplished nothing.

Washington tried to focus attention on Iran and North Korea’s nuclear programs, while Iran condemned the failure to disarm and Egypt pointed to Israel’s presumed nuclear arsenal.

Western diplomats hope to pick up where the abortive 2005 conference left off but worry that Iran wants another debacle and will work to keep the pact’s 189 signatories divided.

Hints of a class divide are emerging in voter impressions of Barack Obama, according to a new poll that shows wealthy voters far more skeptical of his economic agenda than poorer ones.

The survey, conducted by the Pew Research Center to gauge Obama’s popularity around his 100th day in office this week, demonstrates broad popularity for his young presidency. But while 71 percent of voters earning less than $30,000 annually approve of Obama’s performance, only 58 percent of those with incomes over $75,000 do. Barely half of the wealthier voters applaud Obama’s handling of the economy, compared with over three-quarters of those in the lowest stratum.

The findings suggest that Obama’s agenda of activist government – including unprecedented federal involvement in the corporate world – are more likely to spark concerns from upper-income voters than lower-income ones.

“A good part of [the class divide] may have to do with a negative reaction to some of Obama’s policies: taxing the rich, most specifically, and government exercising too much influence over the economy,” said Andrew Kohut, who directed the survey.

This month Obama declared that his budget, which would reduce the burden on 95 percent of taxpayers, amounted to “the most progressive tax cut in American history.” He has described plans to shift more of the tax burden onto high-income workers and small-business owners who received substantial tax cuts during George W. Bush’s presidency. Obama, who earned $2.6 million last year, has said that taxes on the wealthy will be no higher than they were under Bill Clinton.

Yet Obama has proposed changes that directly attack the modern culture of wealth in the United States. He would raise taxes on money earned overseas and through hedge-fund partnerships. He tried unsuccessfully to scale back the deduction for charitable contributions, which is most largely utilized by the wealthy.

“We’re also doing away with the unnecessary giveaways that have thrown our tax code out of balance,” Obama said at an event acknowledging “tax day” on April 15.

Despite having stuck similar themes during his campaign, Obama drew substantial support from upper-income voters, accelerating the gradual movement of upscale suburbanites into the Democratic coalition. Obama ran even with Republican John McCain among voters making more than $75,000, a massive increase over his party’s performance four years earlier, when John Kerry lost that group by double-digits. Obama carried voters earning more than $200,000 by six percent. In 1976, Republican Gerald Ford carried 10 of the 12 wealthiest states in the country; last year, Obama won them all.

A poll last week by Allstate and National Journal showed that Obama was slightly less popular among those with business-oriented jobs than with the broader electorate, although he still commanded impressive numbers for a Democrat. Fifty-eight percent of the self-employed, 55 percent of “knowledge workers,” and 53 percent of senior business managers approved of Obama’s performance.

Indeed, Obama has maintained a friendly posture toward the business world even as he seeks a greater role for government in it. He gave top posts to those with Wall Street ties, including Treasury Timothy Geithner and economic adviser Lawrence Summers. He has presented his support for federal bailouts in the financial and automotive sectors as a way of maintaining vitality in those industries, and describes the need for changes to healthcare and energy policy as a matter of competitiveness.

“Obama enjoyed an enormous amount of support from those upper-class elites, and the people he had surrounded himself with are hardly populist in inclination,” said Steven Fraser, a historian and author of “Wall Street: America’s Dream Palace.” “Obama is operating, in many respects, in a probusiness way and acting very gingerly about executive pay and government control of corporations.”

Kohut noted that the disparity could simply reflect of polarized opinions along party lines: the president is wildly popular among Democrats but predictably disliked by Republicans, who still attract a higher share of the wealthiest voters. His lowest approval ratings in the Pew poll were among the wealthiest group on the issue of the deficit: only 38 percent of those voters approved of Obama’s budgeting.

“There’s something called buyer’s remorse,” said Adam Geller, a Republican pollster. “There’s a little more anger and frustration among people who are making incomes above average.”

Republicans say the class gap on budgetary issues may reflect their focus on the fiscal implications of Obama’s proposals. While some Republicans have asserted that the deficit spending could trigger inflation – which would have a direct effect on low-income earners – party leaders have usually repeated the charge that Obama “taxes too much, spends too much, and borrows too much.”

“Sometimes messages take a while to penetrate, and we’re still on Obama’s honeymoon,” said Alex Conant, a consultant who advises the Republican National Committee. “As the threat of higher taxes and inflation becomes more imminent, you’ll see a wider swath of the public will become more concerned with Obama’s profligate spending.”

So far, the strongest organized opposition to Obama – culminating in a series of rambunctious “tea party” demonstrations held nationwide on April 15 – was incubated at the Chicago Board of Trade by a former derivatives trader who now reports for the financial network CNBC. “This is America!” exclaimed Rick Santelli, as traders joined him in lampooning an Obama proposal to intervene in the mortgage market.

President Obama has been handed his first chance to reinvigorate the liberal wing of the Supreme Court and add another woman to the bench, with the planned retirement this year of David Souter.

Justice Souter, 69, one of the youngest members of America’s highest court and a reliable liberal, is leaving the bench because he has become disaffected with the political machinations of Washington, his friends say.

His departure will not change the delicate political and social balance of the court, which is split between four liberals and four conservatives, with Justice Anthony Kennedy often providing the swing vote when judgments are handed down.

Mr Obama will be under pressure to pick a woman, as there is only one on the bench — Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 76. She had pancreatic cancer diagnosed this winter but says that her treatment has been successful and that she has no plans to retire.
Related Links

* US Supreme Court justice ‘to retire’

* Shock defection boosts Obama’s grip on power

Several names have emerged, including Judge Sonia Sotomayor, of New York, Elena Kagan, Mr Obama’s Solicitor-General, and Kathleen Sullivan, former dean at Stanford Law School.

Asked in 2007 about how he would choose a Supreme Court justice, Mr Obama said: “We need somebody who’s got the heart, the empathy, to recognise what it’s like to be a teenage mum. The empathy to understand what it’s like to be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old.”

Judge Sotomayor, 54, grew up in the South Bronx and graduated from Yale Law School. Vice-President Joe Biden is drawing up a list of possible candidates.

One possibility is the current U.S. Solicitor General, Elena Kagan. She’s a former law professor at Obama’s alma mater, Harvard University.

Another well-known name who might make the list is Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

Most of the rest of the likely possibilities are sitting federal judges. Among them are Ruben Castillo of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Margaret McKeown of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, and Diane Wood of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.

Law professors Pam Karlan of Stanford and Cass Sunstein of Harvard might also make the list.

Republicans are already promising a fight in the Senate over a liberal choice but Mr Obama, on the verge of a 60-seat, filibuster-proof majority, is in a good position to seat his nominee without a bloody political battle.

President Bush was given an Iraqi-journalist-style sendoff on his last full day in office Monday, as tourists and demonstrators lobbed shoes, pumps, boots, sandals and Crocs from Pennsylvania Avenue onto the White House lawn.

Before launching the operation live, the shoe-chuckers took target practice in Dupont Circle on a 20-foot-tall blow up doll of the outgoing president, decked out in the flight suit he wore aboard the “Mission Accomplished” aircraft carrier.

Unlike Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi reporter who inspired the protest, none of the shoe-throwers in the group were arrested. (Later that day, reports NBC, one man was arrested for chucking a shoe at the White House.)

Marching down Connecticut Avenue with handfuls of footwear, the group of about a hundred was on the receiving end of enthusiastic honks, thumbs-up and waves from people in the street.

The reception was almost as warm from the people guarding the White House.

“Don’t hit me!” one officer behind the White House fence joked as shoes rained around him.

Tracey Primavera, a shoe-lobber from Provincetown, Massachusetts, shouted at the guard that she had a pump that would look nice on him.

“I tried that. It didn’t look good on me,” yelled back the officer. Primavera tossed him the pump anyway.

Tourists on Pennsylvania Avenue picked up shoes and lobbed them at the White House as well. “A lot of random people joined in,” noted one organizer, David Swanson. “Everybody wanted to be photographed with an “Arrest Bush” sign.

The tourists also joined a spontaneous chorus that formed. On the night of the election, thousands of people swarmed the White House and sang the old sports classic, “Hey, Hey, Hey, Goodbye.” The song made a reappearance Monday, as did a number of tunes apparently written for the occasion, with lyrics such as “Hang down your head, George Bush/Hang down your head in shame,” and “Take him to the Hague” — the latter sung to the tune of “Working on the Railroad.”

The target practice on the giant Bush doll began around 11:00 in the morning and was still going five hours later, as thousands of people walking through the circle stopped to pick up a shoe and wing it at the outgoing president. Some threw fastballs like al-Zaidi. Others tied several together in an attempt to land them on Bush’s long Pinocchio-esque nose. Children took part. (“Okay. One more shoe, kids,” said one parent.) Some folks simply walked up to the doll and kicked it in the shins. It fell over at one point and people rushed it, beating it with shoes.

Still others, like al-Zaidi, missed.

“Ah! I missed!” yelled Sharon Kerr, in town from Austin, Texas, after chucking wide of her presidential mark. She said that she felt a little like the Iraqi reporter for missing. But she noted in his defense, “He had people blocking him.”

Kerr began to leave the circle but stopped. “I’m gonna go one more time. I’m gonna nail him this time,” she said before winding up and striking him cleanly in the belt.

Cheryl Upshaw, in from Atlanta and sporting a full-length fur coat, hit the Bush doll high on the shoulder. “I was really trying to aim for his heart,” said Upshaw, a registered nurse who owns a home healthcare agency. The throw was cathartic, she said, and it seemed to relieve some of her anger.

“It’s not that I hate him,” she clarified. “I don’t hate him personally. I hate what he has done to this country.”

Medea Benjamin, a cofounder of the antiwar group CODEPINK, said the protest was a way to “get the Bush era out of your intestines.”

“I was a little reluctant because I want to be in a positive mood,” she said. “I don’t want to be seen as doing something violent. The shoe-throwing is borderline, but the intent is to insult, not to hurt. There’s a fine line.”

Once all the shoes had been tossed onto the White House lawn, the officers collected them and piled them into the back of a small truck. “The next person who throws them gets arrested,” said one, though the entire pile had already been thrown.

As the protesters headed back toward Dupont Circle, a Secret Service agent left them with a parting observation.

“You all won,” he said.

On Obama’s first day in office, Republicans expressed resistance to the Democratic stimulus plan, reports the AP:

Facing Republican resistance to a massive economic stimulus plan, the Obama administration on Wednesday said $3 of every $4 in the package should be spent within 18 months to have maximum impact on jobs and taxpayers…

Indeed Republicans, who said they were receptive to Obama’s call for a “unity of purpose,” promptly tested the day-old administration. They criticized the Democratic plan and requested a meeting with the president to air their tax-cutting plans.

The New York Times reports that Obama is expected to sign executive orders closing the CIA’s network of secret prisons and the closing of Guantanamo on Thursday:

President Obama is expected to sign executive orders Thursday directing the Central Intelligence Agency to shut what remains of its network of secret prisons and ordering the closing of the Guantanamo detention camp within a year, government officials said…

And the orders would bring to an end a Central Intelligence Agency program that kept terrorism suspects in secret custody for months or years, a practice that has brought fierce criticism from foreign governments and human rights activists. They will also prohibit the C.I.A. from using coercive interrogation methods, requiring the agency to follow the same rules used by the military in interrogating terrorism suspects, government officials said.

In addition, the Obama administration declared their willingness to talk to Iran “without preconditions,” as reported by The Guardian.

The Obama foreign policy agenda that appeared on the White House website declared: “Barack Obama supports tough and direct diplomacy with Iran without preconditions.” The Bush administration made direct talks between the US and Iran conditional on Iranian suspension of its uranium enrichment programme. The only exception was some discussion in Baghdad on the future of Iraq.

The Obama initiative represents a distinct break from that policy, as part of a fundamental shift in diplomatic approach. The Obama agenda said the new administration would “talk to our foes and friends” and not set preconditions.

From AP: President Barack Obama’s first public act in office Wednesday was to institute new limits on lobbyists in his White House and to freeze the salaries of high-paid aides, in a nod to the country’s economic turmoil.

Announcing the moves while attending a ceremony in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to swear in his staff, Obama said the steps “represent a clean break from business as usual.”

In addition to staff and ethics orders, President Obama’s schedule was filled with meetings about the war in Iraq, the recession, phone calls with world leaders among other initiatives. His administration also kept an eye on various cabinet nominations moving through the Senate, including Hillary Clinton’s recently confirmed position as Secretary of State.

More on Obamas’ First Day

In a first-day whirlwind, President Barack Obama showcased efforts to revive the economy on Wednesday, summoned top military officials to the White House to chart a new course in Iraq and eased into the daunting thicket of Middle East diplomacy.

“What an opportunity we have to change this country,” said the 47-year-old chief executive, who also issued new ethics rules for his administration, hosted a reception at the presidential mansion for 200 inauguration volunteers and guests selected by an Internet lottery and even took the oath of office again after it was flubbed Tuesday.

After dancing at inaugural balls with first lady Michelle Obama past midnight, Obama entered the Oval Office for the first time as president in early morning. He read a good luck note left behind by President George W. Bush, then began breaking cleanly with his predecessor’s policies.

Aides circulated 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.

Closing the site “would further the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and the interests of justice,” read the draft prepared for the new president’s signature. A copy was obtained by The Associated Press, and an aide said privately that Obama would sign a formal order on Thursday.

Some of the 245 detainees currently held at Guantanamo would be released, while others would be transferred elsewhere and later put on trial under terms to be determined.

Obama’s Cabinet was moving closer to completion.

At the Capitol, the Senate confirmed Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state after a one-day delay forced by Republicans. The vote was 94-2, and spectators seated in the galleries erupted in applause when it was announced.

Treasury-designate Timothy Geithner emerged unscathed from his confirmation hearing, apologizing for having failed to pay $34,000 in taxes earlier in the decade.

To the evident anger of Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Republicans on the panel invoked long-standing rules to postpone a vote on Eric Holder’s appointment as attorney general.

Counting Clinton, seven Cabinet members have been confirmed so far, as have the two top officials at the Office of Management and Budget.

Obama’s schedule for the day included separate sessions on the economy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The new president has pledged to take bold steps to revive the economy, which is struggling through the worst recession since the Great Depression. Last week, he won approval to use $350 billion in leftover financial industry bailout funds.

He presided over the White House meeting on the economy as the House Appropriations Committee moved toward approval of $358 billion in new spending, part of the economic stimulus package making its way to his desk.

The new commander in chief held his first meeting in the Situation Room, where he, Vice President Joe Biden and senior military and foreign policy officials discussed war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama campaigned on a pledge to withdraw U.S. combat forces from Iraq within 16 months, and to beef up the commitment in Afghanistan. Obama asked the Pentagon to do whatever additional planning necessary to “execute a responsible military drawdown from Iraq.”

The new White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said Obama’s phone calls to leaders in the Middle East were meant to convey his “commitment to active engagement in pursuit of Arab-Israeli peace from the beginning of his term.”

Gibbs also that in conversations with Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian and Jordanian leaders, the president emphasized he would work to consolidate the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Obama intends to name former Senate Majority leader George Mitchell as a special envoy to the region.

Not everything was new at the White House.

In the Oval Office, Obama worked at a desk built from the timbers of a British naval vessel, the HMS Resolute, and used off-and-on by presidents since the 1870s, including Bush. It also appeared that the carpet that Bush used in his second term, a yellow sunbeam design, was still in place.

If some of the furnishings remained in place, there was no doubt that the new president meant to fulfill his campaign promise of change.

“As of today, lobbyists will be subject to stricter limits than under any … other administration in history,” Obama told reporters as he signed the new rules. The restrictions included a ban on gifts by lobbyists to anyone serving in the administration.

He also imposed a pay freeze for about 100 White House aides who earn $100,000 or more. Its implementation was unclear, since none of them was on the payroll before Tuesday’s noontime inauguration.

On Tuesday, within hours of Obama’s inauguration, his administration froze last-minute Bush administration regulations before they could take effect.

Among them was an Interior Department proposal to remove gray wolves from Endangered Species protections in much of the northern Rocky Mountains, and a Labor Department recommendation that would allow companies that manage employee retirement plans to market investment products to plan participants.

On Wednesday night, Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath to Obama at the White House _ a rare do-over. The surprise moment came in response to Tuesday’s stumble, when Roberts got the words of the oath a little off, which prompted Obama to do so, too.

The White House reassured that Obama has still been president since noon on Inauguration Day. But Obama and Roberts went through the drill again out of what White House counsel Greg Craig called “an abundance of caution.”

Obama also dropped by a party for his staff at a packed DC Armory, telling his supporters that they deserve credit for his historic election victory, in part because they didn’t know any better. He said they simply didn’t know that a guy like him shouldn’t win, that their fundraising model wasn’t typical and that the odds were stacked against them.

Obama and his wife began their day at a prayer service that is traditional for the first business day of a new administration. They were joined in front-pew seats by Biden and his wife, Jill, as well as former President Bill Clinton and his wife, hours away from confirmation as the nation’s top diplomat.

“Grant to Barack Obama, president of the United States, and to all in authority your grace and good will. Bless them with your heavenly gifts, give them wisdom and strength to know and to do your will,” prayed the Rev. Andy Stanley, one of numerous clerics from several religions to speak.

Obama and his wife also played host and hostess for a select 200 at an open house.

“Enjoy yourself, roam around,” a smiling Obama told one guest.

“Don’t break anything.”