Undoing the damage, one step at a time
No small part of Obama's mandate is driven by a desire to see the most damaging turns of the last eight years reversed, so that this country can begin restoring itself to its fundamental principles. If the Obama administration takes that mandate seriously, they'll spend a lot of time reviewing the executive orders issued by President Bush over the last eight years with an eye toward those that should be reversed (a president can rescind an executive order issued by a previous president with the stroke of his pen; no action by Congress would be necessary).
Obama's allies in Congress have already started compiling the list:
Lawmakers and top health aides on both the House and Senate sides have been preparing lists of what they consider to be the most onerous or offensive Bush administration executive orders, rules and regulations that a President Obama could rescind quickly.
The most obvious target is lifting federal restrictions on embryonic stem cell research.
[...]
Democrats are also pushing to overturn a directive by Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt that would make it difficult -- some say impossible -- for states to expand the Children's Health Insurance Program.
These are just two examples of Bush's toxic legacy that Obama can and should undo. Many more rules and orders fit the bill, covering subjects from the environment to civil liberties.
This is the kind of change Obama was sent to the White House to achieve, and I expect he will begin wiping up Bush's mess on day one. Unfortunately, he has a lot of messes to clean up.