First you win, then the fun begins…

posted by Bill Arnett @ 1:50 PM Permalink

…especially when it comes to unraveling the twisted and sick priorities of the bush maladministration. bush hasn't done crap for this country other than engaging in unnecessary and illegal wars of aggression, destroying America's moral authority to speak out on dozens of matters, inspiring the world to hold America in contempt as a country ruled by men and not by law, and dozens and dozens of internal actions he has taken to solidify the positions of his cronies by instituting one bad executive order after another.

Well, there is some hope on the horizon as President Elect Obama is already taking steps to identify and get ready to negate hundreds of bush's final executive orders and start restoring some sanity to the laws of America,

From the Washington Post.com comes this:

Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team.

A team of four dozen advisers, working for months in virtual solitude, set out to identify regulatory and policy changes Obama could implement soon after his inauguration. The team is now consulting with liberal advocacy groups, Capitol Hill staffers and potential agency chiefs to prioritize those they regard as the most onerous or ideologically offensive, said a top transition official who was not permitted to speak on the record about the inner workings of the transition.

In some instances, Obama would be quickly delivering on promises he made during his two-year campaign, while in others he would be embracing Clinton-era policies upended by President Bush during his eight years in office.

"The kind of regulations they are looking at" are those imposed by Bush for "overtly political" reasons, in pursuit of what Democrats say was a partisan Republican agenda…

Smart man, Obama, to get a jump on these things now so he can take corrective action immediately upon assuming office.

A spokeswoman said yesterday that no plans for regulatory changes had been finalized. "Before he makes any decisions on potential executive or legislative actions, he will be conferring with congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle, as well as interested groups," Obama transition spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said. "Any decisions would need to be discussed with his Cabinet nominees, none of whom have been selected yet."

Still, the preelection transition team, comprising mainly lawyers, has positioned the incoming president to move fast on high-priority items without waiting for Congress.

I have long maintained that anything done by bush through an executive order could itself be undone with an executive order, especially as the lamest duck president of all time will never be able to get anymore of his pernicious laws placed on the books through congress.

…[Obama]intends to reverse Bush's controversial limit on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, a decision that scientists say has restrained research into some of the most promising avenues for defeating a wide array of diseases, such as Parkinson's.

Bush's August 2001 decision pleased religious conservatives who have moral objections to the use of cells from days-old human embryos, which are destroyed in the process.

But Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) said that during Obama's final swing through her state in October, she reminded him that because the restrictions were never included in legislation, Obama "can simply reverse them by executive order." Obama, she said, "was very receptive to that." Opponents of the restrictions have already drafted an executive order he could sign.

The new president is also expected to lift a so-called global gag rule barring international family planning groups that receive U.S. aid from counseling women about the availability of abortion, even in countries where the procedure is legal, said Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. When Bill Clinton took office in 1993, he rescinded the Reagan-era regulation, known as the Mexico City policy, but Bush reimposed it.

This has always represented a massive failure of commonsense or any sense of decency to provide the backwards and idiotic rule that while counselors may give advice regarding abstaining from sex, they were powerless to counsel birth control and the use of condoms to help reduce the AIDS problem running rampant in AFRICA and other of poverty stricken countries.

The president-elect has said, for example, that he intends to quickly reverse the Bush administration's decision last December to deny California the authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles. "Effectively tackling global warming demands bold and innovative solutions, and given the failure of this administration to act, California should be allowed to pioneer," Obama said in January.

Why should millions suffer from unnecessary air pollution when so many remedies are so readily available?

I remember the days when I used to go to L.A. several times a year and had to get used to the scorching of my eyes and lungs from the pollution.

Other early Obama initiatives may address the need for improved food and drug regulation and chart a new course for immigration enforcement, some Obama advisers say. But they add that only a portion of his early efforts will be aimed at undoing Bush initiatives.

Despite enormous pent-up Democratic frustration, Obama and his team realize they must strike a balance between undoing Bush actions and setting their own course, said Winnie Stachelberg, the center's senior vice president for external affairs.

IMHO, President Elect Obama is faced with a difficult task indeed, unraveling all the damage wrought by bush, and that it cannot be started too quickly or too much done very early to begin restoring our country.

Labels: Barack Obama, bush hypocrisy, bush war doctrine, civil liberties, civil rights, executive orders