44, Day Nine

A big day for the new president, one that big business may remember for a while.

-The House passed President Obama's stimulus plan by a vote of 244-188. Any joy in the passage has to be tempered with the fact that despite Obama's attempts to lobby Republicans, he didn't get a single GOP vote for the package (now priced at $819 billion).

-Obama met with a group of prominent CEOs to build business sector support for the stimulus package. Among those in attendance: Google's Eric Schmidt, IBM's Sam Palmisano, Xerox's Anne Mulcahy, and Motorola's Greg Brown. After the closed-door meeting, Obama gave a statement. "As we discussed in our meeting a few minutes ago, corporate America will have to accept its own responsibilities to its workers and the American public. But these executives also understand that without wise leadership in Washington, even the best-run businesses can't do as well as they might," he said.

-The White House announced that Obama will make his first foreign trip as president to Canada on Feb. 19. "Without getting into what a bilateral agenda might be for that trip, I think it is safe to say that the health of each economy and the health of the global economy will be a large part of that agenda," Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs said.

-White House transparency watch: Point one) Obama again promised to let the American people hold his administration accountable for its actions. He said that a website had been set up so people can see where stimulus funds go. But the site, recovery.gov, says that it won't post any information until after the act becomes law and the White House site doesn't break down what's in the package now, except to describe it broadly ... Point two) If you want to know all of the CEOs who met with President Obama today, you'll have to look at media accounts because the White House site doesn't say how many were in the meeting, or provide the names of who was there. The White House release identifies Jet Blue, Honeywell, and IBM, as three companies with executives in the room. ... Point three) Another briefing from the press secretary, another day where the public can't read the transcript of what was said. Also, an area that had been on www.whitehouse.gov that was supposed to have posted pool reports from media traveling with the president has been removed.

by J. Jennings Moss