Obama Positioned to Quickly Reverse Bush Actions

Source: WaPo

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, said Dan Mendelson, a former associate administrator for health in the Clinton administration's Office of Management and Budget. The list of executive orders targeted by Obama's team could well get longer in the coming days, as Bush's appointees are rushing to enact a number of last-minute policies in an effort to extend his legacy.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

Now do the same for the Patriot Act.

Please, President Obama!
Stop the madness! Save the children!

Up until the currrent WAR CRIMINAL got into Al Gore's House ILLEGALLY by the stolen election in 2000, there were about 600 TOTAL "signing statements" SINCE THE INCEPTION OF THE COUNTRY...bunkerboy has produced OVER 1,200 "signing statements"!

Think about that while I go on...

Up to the time of this WAR CRIMINAL, most if not ALL such "signing statements" were things such as "good going", "this is a great thing for America" - in other words - "atta-boys" - that reinforced the INTENT of the legislation they were attached to.

The WAR CRIMINAL, on the other hand, used most, if not ALL of his "signing statements" to NEGATE or otherwise DRASICALLY CHANGE and CURTAIL the INTENT of the legislation it was attached to!

That must be SHOUTED and TOLD far and wide so that what ever Obama does is put into the correct CONTEXT!!!

There are two issues.

The first is the legislative history aspect. He can't revoke the signing statements, since they form part of the legislative history. Since Obama wasn't involved in promulgating the laws or what the prez considered them to mean when he signed the legislation, Obama's opinion as to what they mean, should it come to a court battle, is as useful as that of the DOJ lawyer.

The second is that since they're essentially instructions to his reports on how to interpret them, all he has to do is tell them to interpret the law differently. In some cases, he won't; I've perused scores of pages of signing statements, and most are routine and boring, and things that struck me as no-brainers.

For instance, one required that the head of some department certify a specific report by signing it. Federal law has two definitions of what that entails: The first, that it was seen by him and drawn up by his dept. Certification writ small. The second is that he vouches for every fact therein, having investigated it and done due diligence to make sure each fact is correct, under penalty of mandatory fine and/or dismissal. The report was required by Congress to be presented by a certain date every year, and the first year ran to nearly a thousand pages, drawn up by different field offices across the country. I'm not sure I want the EPA head (or whoever it was) to have to personally investigate every fact, and be fined or fired if he can't prove that each fact had sufficient basis in reality for him to certify that it was true. Bush's signing statement cited the two relevant definitions with references to where in the US code they're to be found, and instructed his staff that only the former, laxer, standard will be judged to be applicable.

The dozens of pages before and after that particular issue were similar in nature. It's pure nitpicking, the kind of thing that most presidents would leave to a subordinate to decide in an internal memorandum, but which speaks to a desire to minimize the leeway courts have in deciding some legal trivia. But just as the continuity of government thing freaked people out (not because it was novel, but because it was the first one made explicit by being even partially declassified), so explicitness freaks people out. I've looked at dozens of these things, and mostly the explicitness just produces a sense of tedium. (For exactly what kind of tedium, look at Belyi's prose "symphonies". #3, I think it was. Yawn.)

Some of the signing statements are probably unconstitutional, and should be overturned. Those typically get cited in short order, assuming mythic proportions, yet are assumed to be typical; they're not typical, which is why they can assume mythic proportions. They constitute maybe a dozen, all depending crucially on the same boilerplate language.

awesome

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/orders /


Plus, Undo the Patriot Act, No Child Left Behind,

I had a look, but there's just too much there for me to take in.
(big thanks for that link, btw)

LOOK at them all....

Heh, he only missed doing any in March this year.

Dam brush needed cutting....

Thanks for the link DeepBlueDem.

wildlife resources. Shades of the buffalo hunters shooting buffalo out of train windows for sport.

for sport were just common passengers. Buffalo hunters collected a bounty for killing as many as possible and did not kill for sport but to force the native americans onto reservations by eliminating their livlihood. It was just a job. A despicable, horrific, and eventually genocidal job.

Shooting from train windows was just typical americans acting like typical american tourists.

I need the searchlight beam narrowed.

Gobama!

Agnostic here.

Prove it!

If George can do it, Barack can undo it.

Those last minute bills made me think they were going to steal it again and remain in power.

Why would they want a librul to have all that unchecked power?


Am I stupid? Is there something I'm missing?

donors. Etc. etc.
It only needed to last for eight years. It was "steal as much as you can" time.

they will do things BECAUSE they want Obama to undo it as soon as he takes office, then they will use it against him down the road when they're listing all the ways he's "raised taxes". (To use a fictional example, if Bush at the last minute slashed the fees visitors pay to National Parks by 67%, knowing full well that the Parks rely on that income to keep the doors open, when Obama took office he'd have to reset the fees to what they were in November 2008, and then the Republicans would campaign against Obama, howling, "He tripled the fees to visit our National Parks!!!"

Until he actually vacates the WH and Cheney vacates his residence, I won't be at peace.

yes INDEED

He's hit bottom and the title of worst pResident ever is all his. His legacy is set.

is history. The Worst First Family is off to Houston to some fancy manse...

It was all just for effect. * won't clear brush again in his natural life.

Paraguay has lots of trees. And no extradition treaty with the USA.

Their cool new socialist president might make one... here's hoping!

A CIA extraction and rendition would do nicely.

The intent was to make reporters as uncomfortable as possible when covering Bush's "western White House." That house has a boardroom and secure telephones--it was intended specifically for administration officials to have somewhere to go when doing their most evil deeds.

Now he's going to be out of power and he won't need it anymore.

Looking forward to having a real person in the Oval Office, not a cartoon or caricature. These people made a mockery of everything this country stands for.

I'm guessing there's some brush to be cleared in Hell.

2 names for the pig farm suggested by contestants to a local (San Diego) radio station's contest hosted by the great Stacy Taylor. Wonder whether he ever got a visit from the Secret Service

to give * that downhome manly man thing. What a f'ing joke! F'ing * is a-scared of horsies! LOLOL!

buhhuahawhahahaha...sorry.

He wants to be close to his pResidential Library with it's signed first edition copy of "My Pet Goat," and of course his favorite coloring books.

NT!

Alas!

GOBAMA!

In a very attractive way, needless to say---!!!!

...it'll feel good to get the stupid out of government.

where after being abused for so long by some cretins, you emphasize with and actually SUPPORT your captors...

It was a question the other day on Cash Cab.

I am in Sandoval County, New Mexico. Currently we have no emissions testing. Does this mean that Sandoval County is going to adopt Emissions standards? If so I may need to bring my cars up... I am planning on testing it sometime soon its only 15$ in Albuquerque. Regardless I need to know if I have to pass.. I know that my Audi A8 passes but my other Audi I am not sure on. It passed several years ago in Seattle Washington so.. I keep everything up as best I can to optimize fuel economy. I get roughly 30-38mpg with a V8

I change O2 sensors and things like that myself. Mainly due to not wanting to destroy the Catalytic Converter and other things. Its maintained well just confused is all on what course of action I need to take. It can be a financial burden if I dont see it coming

Thanks.

To change that to make it federally mandated would require Congressional action, not something that could be enacted through an Executive order.

Former mechanic here.

STRONGER environmental standards, such as pollution and gas mileage, than the bush* era WEAKENED legislation and "signing statements"...

We CAN and WILL RETURN to the more stringent individual STATE standards...!

Bush prevented California from enacting stricter requirements for new cars, under the guise of arguing that California was thus restricting interstate commerce. Emissions requirements in terms of maintaining the condition of used cars is a completely different issue and one that is still controlled by localities.

(As a side note, when I see old vans farting down the road leaving a massive cloud of black exhaust behind them because they're burning a quart of oil every 25 miles, I wonder why the police aren't empowered and instructed to pull over such vehicles and have them impounded. I mean, you see it all the time and one bad vehicle like that is probably polluting as much as 1000 other vehicles combined.)

The poster was stating that presidential actions couldn't affect STATE laws, which is clearly NOT the case as I pointed out.

Bunkeboy's pResidential actions HAVE overwritten State laws...

Stop muddying the waters with nonsense...

Your assertion that Bush weakened local testing of individual vehicle emissions is simply untrue. Bestman23 in no way claimed that, in general, Presidential actions couldn't affect state laws. That's a ridiculous interpretation of his post, which simply states (correctly) that states and localities regulate emission testing of individual vehicles in service. It isn't the same as emission standards for manufacturers. Your attempt to combine these two separate issues is what is "muddying the waters."

Get your facts straight before you start insulting people.

your peace of mind, anyway. Here in NC, if a car is over a certain number of years old; it does not have to pass an emissions test. They just make sure you have a functioning muffler and etc.

Not that it's always a good thing..there could be a lot of polluting older cars out there, but it seems to be working ok for us. I have one car that qualifies (95 Honda Del Sol; 37 to the gallon!) and one that does not.

Hope you don't have a lot of trouble.

It may become a federal mandate eventually, if its deemed necessary in order to help with carbon emmissions in the USA.. Currently, its up to the states.

Here in WI, we have no emissions testing in Dane county, but when I lived in Milwaukee county, I had to have my ancient car tested (and it passed).

I sure hope he's got some people working on that.

The can undo much of the Patriot Act just by telling the feds to stop doing this stuff that they're allowed to do under it.

a dam of GOOD WILL and JUSTICE that could not be held back artifically any longer...

I hear?
Could it be the sound of pin heads, bigots,
racists and freepers exploding?

The RW hate-mongers will try to raise hell about all these things.
We need to be even more vocal about backing Barack up.

Wow. I am impressed. I think we will see government work like we've never seen it before. *'s mess may be cleaned up sooner than anyone was expecting. This man is a super star. Wish I could work for him.

Also release all papers of the George H W Bush administration, pursuant with The Presidential Records Act of 1978 (PRA), which provides that this should occur 12 years after the end of each administration.

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20071001/index.htm

...the first time Obama walks into the Oval Office as PRESIDENT ELECT OBAMA, Bush had better be wearing a pair of Depends.

The best part of this is that we're looking at "about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone."

It doesn't have to stop there, and my guess is that it won;t.

Obama is a true Amercan hero.

Every single policy or EO that asshole enacted and imposed should be reversed. How many good ones were there, one or two at the most? Either way, I can't think of anything good that came from that piece of shit.

Fuck *'s legacy. These assholes did enough damage already.

The list of executive orders targeted by Obama's team could well get longer in the coming days, as Bush's appointees are rushing to enact a number of last-minute policies in an effort to extend his legacy.

Of course we can pass all these partisan things Georgie. With your approval ratings being in the 90s, Republican popularity is too sky high for people to care what we do. The next five Presidents will surely be Republican and the laws will stand. No way we can screw this up.

The Bush Administration was just a terror, and It Is a New Day.
Good God, my main concerns have always been the Executive Orders, and the war in the Middle East. Is this really happening?

Bravo Obama!

Fantasy headlines from a world where things make sense. Up is up again.

it's really amazing to see - if not just for the FOCUS of the same news...

and reversing as many egregious Bush policies ASAP would be an excellent start on that road . . .

but he's going to have to do much, much more to reverse the impact that 8 years of BushCo have had on the economy, on foreign policy, on the environment, on the military, and on any number of other areas . . . he'll need to be something of a latter day FDR and come up with some radical new programs to grow the economy, re-regulate big business, end wars, rebuild the military, attack not only global warming but a host of other environmental problems as well, provide affordable healthcare for all, and rebuild the nation's infrastructure . . . to name only some of the most obvious areas that need urgent attention . . .

but what a pleasure it is to have an intellectual in the presidency -- or at least on his way to the presidency . . . after 8 years of Bush dumbing down the office to junior high level, Obama is going to look pretty damn good in comparison no matter what he does . . .

It gets you excited and you look forward to seeing it work.

you dreamed of fade as we libruls shove it up your ass you f'ing slimeballs.

world has "RETURNED TO RIGHT SIDE UP"!

The small things we say, and how they are framed, can be VERY IMPORTANT.

The world was "flipped upside down" when the WAR CRIMINAL and GOP STOLE OUR White House in 2000.

Now, after long last, THINGS ARE RETURNING TO NORMAL AFTER A LONG NIGHTMARE THAT WAS THIS MISADMINISTRATION.

After reading it, I had assured potential Obama voters I knew about this task force when they questioned whether Obama would be able to bring about real change. It's comforting to hear this confirmation.

Obama is going to hit the ground running to clean up hundreds of pieces of Bush's mess on inauguration day. I love this.

Slowly but surely we're gonna get our country back! He gets it!

According to another article it includes lifting the global gag rule on family planning mentioning abortion and allowing California to regulate carbon emissions.

I feel like that old Kris Kristofferson song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCoFdi6WibI


Watch closely now
You'll observe a curious exchange of energy
Are you a figment of my imagination
Or I one of yours?

Watch closely now - are you watching me now?
Your eyes are like fingers
They're touching my body and arousing my soul
Ridin' the passion arisin' inside me
How high can I go?
You're comin' with me girl
I'm gonna show you how
When it's scary, don't look down

Watch closely now - are you watching me now?
I see the hunger arise in your eyes and it's a-urging me on
Higher and harder and faster and farther
Than I've ever gone
You're comin' closer lady
Don't ya leave me now
We're gonna make it
Don't look down

Maybe I'm takin' me too many chances
With no net at all
Maybe I'll teach you at least that
You've got to be free when you fall

Watch closely now - are you watching me now?
I'm the master magician, who's setting you free
From the lies you've been told
When they're breaking your back
Bring your last straw to me
I turn straw into gold
I'm gonna need you later
When you're not around
But I can take it
Don't look down

Watch closely now
Are you watching me now?...

And President Obama, don't forget about restoring the Constitution! (As a sponsor of Dodd's legislation to do just that, I'm pretty confident that he won't forget.)

It's a start I guess. It would take a while to reverse eight years of * assholery, maybe even longer than eight years (it always takes longer to clean a mess than to make it). I'm probably going to be very happy for a few weeks after P.E. Obama starts announcing what policies are being reversed.

Oswego "To be fair to *, I did agree with exactly one of his policies (opening air traffic lanes on Thanksgiving)" Atheist

Be still my heart

This is what "Hope" looks like.

the most focused organized Presidency in history.

If he could only do something about all of them immediately.

Most others would use these as bargaining chips with Congress. Obama is doing The Right Thing.

Possibly the most appealing promise Mr. Obama made during campaign.

We KNEW it, but to come out and say it solidifies everything!!

that I love about this man.

stuff that took away basic Constitutionally granted rights and civil matters.

Thank God he's doing this. How many "signing statements" will go I wonder.

Oh how I love this man!

And Obama is listening to US - the "liberals" and "progressives"!

The only thing that needs to be mentioned here, is that the "liberal" or "progressive" position, is, and has always been, "MIDDLE" or "MAINSTREAM" - it's just that the whore media has successfully protrayed the bat-shit insane right wing wacko policies of the G(God)OP as what the country wants or where the country is!

No, it's not that we are "liberal", or we have moved to the "looney left wing" - it's that the wacko right wing has move so far to the RIGHT, that the definition of "middle" is now, rightly so, returning to the "MIDDLE"...even tho the media whores are trying this new "spin" at the "liberal" nature of these positions...

Please don't forget to tape in that piece that includes the second amendment, too, please.

I also think he should hold Bushco accountable but that may be a bit much to ask since Nancy (impeachment is off the table) Pelosi is still in charge of Congress. Howerver, at todays meeting with Bush in Obama's new house, maybe he should remind Bush that as a transparent democracy he will ensure that the facts of the last 8 years are made public and that we are a nation of laws and therefore Prosecution may be in order for some in the Bush Administration, if crimes are uncovered. At lease Bush will be warned and could start shopping for a Lawyer...

Maybe the thugs will forget to shred something important, as we all know the machines are now working OVERTIME...

dance dance dance!

Though I won't breathe a major sigh of relief until those criminals are out of office.

It was raining here all weekend, now I realize that was just neocon tears.

nt

Amen to that, and K&R

One more year with W at the helm and the nation would have disintegrated.

my wildest expectations!!!!!

Yee haw, sportsfans, we're gonna get our country back!!!!!!!

remember 666's first day in office? Global Gag Rule? that was SO evil. The deadly results of that don't get mentioned much outside of "women's issues".

WOW!! Barack in the House---it's so exciting!



incidentally, I just love the frequent report that Obama confers with respected experts on various topics, and seeks input from many sources (not to mention the thrill I get when I see the words "progressive" and "liberal" in those reports!!)

I wonder if he could also do something about all the crimes committed by the Bushies too ?

Something like a special commission or something.Just wondering.