WASHINGTON (AP) — Advisers to President-elect Barack Obama say one of his first duties in office will be to order the closing of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

That executive order is expected during Obama’s first week on the job — and possibly on his first day, according to two transition team advisers. Both spoke Monday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

So according to the AP, Obama is planning to order the closing of Guantánamo Bay within his first week in office. This is definitely good news, but therein lies the problem I’m having with the proto-administration.

For the last 8 years I’ve become exceedingly cynical regarding the government, and for good reason; some of the decisions made in Bush’s administration have been almost cartoonishly evil. Now that we’re faced with the prospect of an administration that doesn’t have its head up its ass, I find myself sort of… lost. What’s there to be cynical and sarcastic about? I don’t even know if I remember what a functioning government is like.

I think this is why Obama’s admittedly minor mistakes (e.g. Rick Warren at the inauguration) have gotten as much traction as they did. I need Obama to do something, anything, that can justify my cynical outer shell. Being able to shake my fist at the government had a nice constancy about it that I might not be ready to give up.

A friend sent me an e-card that sums things up quite nicely.