Hitting The Ground Running

The celebration is over and today President Barack Obama has hit the ground running.

White House press secretary Gibbs announced that President Obama placed calls to President Mubarak of Egypt, Prime Minister Olmert of Israel, King Abdullah of Jordan, and President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority this morning and expressed his "commitment to active engagement," in pursuing peace in the Middle East, and that in the aftermath of the recent conflict in Gaza, will work to consolidate the ceasefire and "facilitating in partnership with the Palestinian Authority a major reconstruction effort for Palestinians in Gaza."

In related news, the Washington Post is reporting that former senator George Mitchell will be named as special envoy to the Middle East.

This afternoon, the President will be meeting with his economic advisors, as they continue to tackle the number one concern of Americans and the top priority of his administration. While the Senate has voted to release the second $350 billion in TARP funds, and Congress is moving forward on presenting the President with an economic stimulus bill for his signature, the administration is still awaiting the confirmation of Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary, that has been held up following the revelation that Geithner had failed to pay some taxes several years ago.  

Later, the President will meet with military leaders to discuss the redeployment of U.S. troops in Iraq, fulfilling a pledge made on the campaign trail. Attending the Situation Room meeting will be Vice President Biden, Defense Secretary Gates, National Security Advisor James Jones, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mullen, Commander in Chief, U.S. Central Command David Petraeus, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and commander of the Multi-National Force-Iraq General Ray Odierno (via video conference).

Spencer Ackerman at the The Washington Independent raises some interesting questions on what will happen at this meeting:

It’ll be interesting to see what tone is struck at the meeting — who hits it off with Obama, who makes compelling arguments to Obama, and who doesn’t. Will the subject of faster-paced withdrawals from Iraq and into Afghanistan come up? If so, who will advocate them, and who will push back? Will the Petraeus-Odierno alliance on cautious withdrawals from Iraq remain in place, or will there be some divergence of views now that Petraeus is responsible for more than just Iraq?

Given the importance most of us attach to the President making good on his pledge to get our troops out of Iraq, the answers to these questions are eagerly awaited.