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All three networks offered a progress report on the still forming Obama Administration. On ABC, Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts (no link) claimed an Exclusive interview with First Lady Michelle as she visited military families at Fort Bragg. NBC's Rehema Ellis followed up on Barack Obama's speech on the reform of public education with a profile of Arne Duncan, his Education Secretary. Ellis noted that Duncan's budget has been more than doubled by recent stimulus spending. "There are funds to build and repair schools, to protect districts from teacher layoffs and program cutbacks, and to help states actually do what No Child Left Behind promised." The federal funds may boost spending on public schools--or they may simply replace cuts in spending by states and local school boards.
CBS' Congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes looked at the offices that still lie empty at the top levels of the executive branch. Of 19 senior positions at the Treasury Department, for example, "only five have been filled." Cordes mentioned the much publicized problem of "minor tax irregularities" but suggested two other obstacles arising from the President's code of ethics that are turning off potential applicants: his "reluctance to hire lobbyists or to let people take lobbying jobs after they leave;" and rules that require nominees to sell stocks that could present a conflict of interest. "That is a painful prospect when stocks are tanking."
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