Obama's Busy First Day

After attending prayer service at the National Cathedral, Obama got to work.

Obama requested Guantanamo war crimes prosecutions to be suspended, pending review. This is considered a first step to closing the facility. 

He made calls Middle East leaders this morning: King Abdullah of Jordan, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

He read a letter left to him from Bush:

CNN: Obama arrived in the Oval Office at 8:35 a.m., according to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. The president spent 10 minutes alone in the office, reading a note left for him in the desk by outgoing President George W. Bush. The note had been placed in an envelope marked "To: .44, From: .43″.

There were some kinks, very, very minor ones:

CNN: When reporters arrived at the White House around 5 am today, the door to the press office was locked, and the press office phone lines went directly to a busy signal. The lights in the White House residence and West Wing were on, but there were no other signs of anyone.

Just before 6 am, the press office door was unlocked. Each empty office had a paper handwritten sign attached to the door or desk with the name of the anticipated occupant, like Bill Burton, Ben LaBolt and Dan Pfeiffer. Some names were misspelled. Later, the doors were locked again.

Around 7:30am David Axelrod was seen entering the West Wing with a couple of boxes in hand. An usher could be seen in the window of the White House residence moving from one room to another.

He announced senior staff pay would be frozen for those making more than $100,000.
He vowed that transparency and an honest government would be the rule.

He announced new lobbying rules. 
He met with military leaders to discuss withdrawing from Iraq.
And Hillary was confirmed.

Guantanamo Prosecutions Suspended at Obama's Request

This is one of Obama's first actions. The Obama administration wants time to review the cases and it is considered a first step to closing the detention facility, that Bush wanted to keep open until the "war on terror" was over.

WaPo: GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Jan. 21 -- In one of its first actions, the Obama administration instructed military prosecutors late Tuesday to seek a 120-day suspension of legal proceedings involving detainees at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- a clear break with the approach of the outgoing Bush administration.

Army Col. Patrick Parrish promptly put one of the cases on hold Wednesday morning, and the disposition of several others is expected to become clear later in the day. Parrish is overseeing the case involving Omar Khadr, a Canadian accused of killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan when he was 15. Khadr's trial was about to begin, but the defense did not object to a delay until May 20 and Parrish issued the necessary order.

Some military prosecutors aren't happy:

The legal maneuver appears designed to provide the Obama administration time to refashion the prosecution system and potentially treat detainees as criminal defendants in federal court or have them face war-crimes charges in military courts-martial. It is also possible that the administration could re-form and relocate the military commissions before resuming trials.

The motion prompted a clear sense of disappointment among some of the military officials here who had tried to make a success of the system, despite charges that the military tribunals were a legal netherworld. Military prosecutors and other commission officials here were told not to speak to the news media, according to a Pentagon official.

"It's over; I don't want to say any more," said one official involved in the process.

Some of what's on tap for the first day, Obama will meet with military leaders to talk about withdrawal from Iraq:

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