"Out of an abundance of caution," Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath of office to President Obama for a second time after Roberts botched the wording Tuesday. (Chicago Tribune)
Obama is "ready to issue orders" today to close the prison facility at Guantanamo Bay and "overhaul the treatment of terrorism suspects." (Washington Post)
Obama's $825 billion stimulus package may not provide as much short-term relief as originally planned, leading some GOP lawmakers to call for more tax cuts to be included in the bill. (Wall Street Journal)
Obama began meeting with military brass and civilian officials Wednesday to assess the ground situation in Iraq and contemplate a hastier withdrawal than is currently planned. (Army Times)
While the gay community is elated, some troops are wary of Obama's promise to end the "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the military. (Reuters)
Among his first executive decisions, Obama froze his senior staff's pay, loosened access to government files and tried to limit lobbyist influence on his administration. (NationalJournal.com)
After running the most tech savvy campaign in history, Obama's team entered the White House to discover technology infrastructure so outdated that one staffer compared it to "going from an Xbox to an Atari." (Washington Post)
Settling into their new White House offices is a challenge, and on Wednesday staffers celebrated small victories like new notebooks. (Roll Call -- subscription)
Name Game
Obama has tapped former Sen. George Mitchell as his Mideast envoy, an appointment that follows a round of phone calls to the main players in the region. (New York Times)
Hillary Rodham Clinton was confirmed as secretary of State Wednesday after a one-day delay by Republican lawmakers. (Los Angeles Times)
Republican senators took Timothy Geithner to task Wednesday over his failure to pay payroll taxes, though the Treasury secretary-designate is expected to slip through the confirmation process anyway. (New York Times)
Republicans also stalled a vote on Obama's pick for attorney general, Eric Holder, Wednesday as they seek more detail on his position on torture. (Reuters)
Inauguration Conflagration
Estimates of Tuesday's crowd size are settling on 1.8 million, making it the largest gathering on the Mall in history. (Washington Post)
The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies has apologized to the several thousand ticket holders who were shut out of Tuesday's swearing-in ceremony. (Politico)
Those ticket holders aren't the only ones up in arms about their treatment on Jan. 20: after hundreds of Youth Ball attendees were shut out of the main ballroom Tuesday night, the Presidential Inauguration Committee is considering how to compensate them. (NationalJournal.com)
HBO says its failure to broadcast Rev. Gene Robinson's invocation at the Lincoln Memorial concert Sunday was the result of "miscommunication within the Presidential Inauguration Committee." (The Advocate)
Americans gave Obama high marks for the inauguration ceremony and his speech, according to polls released Wednesday. (NationalJournal.com)
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