Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Change continues - Obama Reverses More Bush Policies

Obama has already made some great moves to undo Bush's policies. It's exciting to see a new announcement practically every day.

1. Obama Directs Regulators to Tighten Auto Rules. During the Bush years, some states wanted to pass more liberal laws than the federal government. The feds argued that federal law superseded state law in these instances. Now, Obama has enabled states to impose more strict regulations on vehicle emissions than required by federal law.

2. "President Obama repealed rules...that restricted federal money for international organizations that promote or provide abortions overseas, sweeping aside a pillar of the social policy architecture of George W. Bush’s presidency." Obama Reverses Rules on U.S. Aid for Abortion This policy has been batted about by Republicans and Democrats since Bush I, I believe. It was sad to see Bush 2 reinstate it. Now it's a relief to see Obama restore sanity to US aid in this area. From the NYTimes: "The restrictions Mr. Obama lifted on Friday barred the United States Agency for International Development from providing money to any international nongovernmental organization that “performs or actively promotes abortion as a method of family planning” in foreign countries, and covered a wide range of activities, including providing advice, counseling or information regarding abortion. The restrictions did not apply to counseling for abortions in the case of rape, incest or danger to the life of the pregnant woman."

3. I mentioned these earlier, but it's worth mentioning again, as this is a huge development. Obama Reverses Key Bush Security Policies "Mr. Obama signed executive orders closing the detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, within a year; ending the Central Intelligence Agency’s secret prisons; and requiring all interrogations to follow the noncoercive methods of the Army Field Manual." An open democracy with a bill of rights should not have implemented these policies to begin with - it was embarrassing.

Here's the Washington Post's rundown of Obama's changes: Effort to Roll Back Bush's Policies Continues

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