From the Vault: Barack Obama’s first week as president

During his first week in office President Donald Trump has been busy fulfilling many of his campaign promises by signing executive orders to build a wall on the southern border, begin undoing the Affordable Care Act and moving forward on the Keystone XL pipeline. Previous presidents have also tried to jumpstart their tenure with a flurry of activity to implement their agendas. Eight years ago, President Obama was just settling into the Oval Office and was working on issues ranging from withdrawing troops from Iraq to closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center to turning around a stalled economy. As Karen Tumulty said on Washington Week, the new administration was “attempting to do so many things at once.” But like the Trump administration, how many of Obama’s first week activities were symbolic and how many made real change? “So much of what he has done in this week, at least, goes to the premise of his campaign, which is that he could change the way things get done in Washington,” Tumulty added.