US Capitol, Matti Mattila, Flickr Creative Commons

Yesterday was one of the most historic and profound moments in our nation’s history. I topped off the emotional and awe-inspiring day with a celebration amongst friends. After savoring the momentous day, I accidentally slept through my daily yoga class.

On the other hand (and perhaps somewhat more interesting), what did our uber-amazing new president do? The opposite. He was up at 5.30AM with a full schedule and has already met with military officials, spoken with world leaders and issued lobbying rules. We knew he promised an era of change, but did anyone expect him to act so quickly and efficiently?

As promised, President Obama is moving swiftly to set a new tone in Washington, which means changing the rules that have governed politicians and lobbyists.  As such, he said that no one who has lobbied for two years on a specific issue would have an Administration job on the same subject matter. And, for those that leave his Administration, they will not be allowed to work as a lobbyist “as long as I am president.” Additionally, to make the government accountable to its citizens, President Obama,  said his Administration and agencies are “on the side of those who want to withhold information but those who seek to make it known.”

Out with Jack Abramoff (the notorious convicted lobbyist of the Bush Days) and in with Fred Wertheimer!  Wertheimer, one of the stalwarts of government accountability and ethics in Washington, has spent decades working for these dramatic changes.  He issued a statement which praised the “ground breaking Executive Order today that establishes unprecedented new rules to govern the role of lobbyists in the Obama Administration.” The Sunlight Foundation, another leading voice for government accountability in Washington, also applauded the historic new tone set by President Obama.

However, despite this refreshing news, there is still much to be done to clean up Washington, and it requires your help.  We are developing a Citizen Lobbyist Toolkit and need your feedback to make it the most user-friendly tool to help regular citizens like you and me to make a difference in changing the governance in Washington.  Obama has certainly started off on a high note, but we need to all participate to bring about even greater change. takepart today to let the sun shine in the halls of Washington to ensure it’s the people’s government.