A Busy Day in Washington DC!

I get a daily email from the office of Chuck Todd, Political Director for MSNBC every morning and a wrap up in the afternoon. You can check it out here

President Obama instituted sweeping ethics rules for his White House by executive order, including freezing pay for senior staffers making more than $100,000 a year, banning lobbying his administration once staffers quit and banning gifts.

Hillary Clinton was confirmed by a 94-2 vote to be Secretary of State.

This morning Obama made his initial contacts as president with prominent players with regard to the violence in Gaza, including Israeli Prime Minister Olmert, Palestinian Authority President Abbas, Egyptian President Mubarak and King Abdullah of Jordan.

Pentagon officials confirmed that at the "direction of the President" Defense Secretary Gates verbally ordered military prosecutors to seek a 120-day suspension of all military commission legal proceedings at Guantanamo Bay.

In his first full day as president, Barack Obama participated in a prayer service this morning at Washington's National Cathedral. He also signed a few executive orders, including one that bans any White House staffer from lobbying the Obama White House if he/she leaves. The big meetings of the day takes place later in the afternoon, when the president sits down 1) with his economic team and then 2) with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Gen. David Petraeus, and Joint Chiefs Chair Mike Mullen. This second meeting fulfills a promise that Obama made during the summer, as the AP reminds us. "My first day in office, I will bring the Joint Chiefs of Staff in, and I will give them a new mission, and that is to end this war responsibly and deliberately but decisively," he said then. Sources tell us that Obama will indeed ask for a plan to begin the process of troop redeployment in Iraq in the next 16 months. As for Gitmo news, it appears the military lawyers quoted in the various news stories circulating got a bit ahead of themselves; still, it's the intent of the new administration to begin closing it. And new White House press secretary Robert Gibbs plans to hold his first briefing at noon ET, though, this could get pushed back a day. By the way, yesterday's immediate change at whitehouse.gov was pretty striking, and what stood out to us were all the issue pledges the Obama team included. Many are not detailed, but the pledges are there for all to see. The Web site has more of the feel of a campaign Web site than the official White House site. It also appears a bit more interactive than Bush's or Clinton's sites.

As for yesterday's speech, the rhetoric might not have been as soaring as we're used to, but Obama pivoted from being candidate Obama (the inspirer), to President Obama (the guy elected to get things done). "For everywhere we look, there is work to be done," he said. "The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act -- not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth." As others have noted -- including Maureen Dowd, who compared it to Stephen Colbert's brutal roast of Bush at the '06 White House Correspondents' dinner -- Obama's speech also was a not-so-subtle rebuke of the past eight years. The market's "power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control, and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous." More: "[We] reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." And: "[W]e will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist." And don't let it go unnoticed that Obama laid down a marker when it comes to dealing with the Muslim world. Obama goes down in history as the first president to say the word "Muslim" in an inaugural address. Historians will use that anecdote some day. Of course, yesterday was a memorable day for Obama and the country on a whole other level. But, even as the new president reminded us, it will last the test of time not for what happened yesterday, but what happens afterwards. "In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given," he said. "It must be earned."