President Obama wasted no time getting started on his first day in office. This morning, the new administration drafted an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility within a year. Obama also announced plans to freeze salaries for about a hundred White House employees who make over $100,000 annually. "Families are tightening their belts, and so should Washington," he said in a statement. The president took time to call four Middle East leaders--President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel, King Abdullah of Jordan, and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority--to discuss progress in the region.
