Bush to leave some 'gotchas' in his wake

Ripped from the wires ... Rosa Brooks details some of the last-minute executive orders on which President Bush is working:

By Rosa Brooks

You knew that W & Co. wouldn't go gently into that good night, didn't you?
Please. We're talking about the people who brought us precooked intelligence, Guantanamo, torture and extraordinary rendition. Who developed bizarre legal doctrines, asserting that the commander in chief is allowed to ignore federal law and the vice president doesn't "belong'' to the executive branch. Who enthusiastically dismantled long-standing regulatory frameworks and who still insist (as George W. Bush did last week) that "too much'' government regulation is our main problem, even as the economic crisis deepens.

You really didn't think these guys would exit meekly, did you?

Don't expect anything undignified, like a Cheney-engineered coup (sorry, conspiracy theorists). But the Bush administration can -- and will -- hamstring the incoming Obama team just as effectively with a raft of poisonous eleventh-hour rules and regulations.

Pick your issue.

The environment? A Bush administration rule transmitted on Nov. 4 hands over responsibility for assessing the environmental impact of federal ocean management decisions to advisory councils made up primarily of people tied to the commercial fishing industry -- who often have a financial stake in the outcome.

Workers' rights? A new rule effective Jan. 18, 2009, would limit workers' ability to take leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Worker and road safety? A rule announced Nov. 16 will allow trucking companies to require drivers to spend 11 consecutive hours behind the wheel.

Gun control? On Election Day, the administration put forward a rule to end the 25-year-old ban on carrying loaded weapons in national parks.

Other last-minute rules the White House is trying to ram through would allow federal and state law-enforcement agencies to monitor and share information on the activities of individuals deemed merely to be "suspicious,'' ease rules on dumping coal mining waste into rivers and streams, and further limit women's access to contraceptives and abortions from federally funded medical providers.

These rules can be enacted by the outgoing Bush administration with relative ease and speed, but reversing them will be far more difficult for the Obama administration: extensive study, notice and comment requirements mean that reversals may take several years, during which a lot of damage will have been done.

Bush also has signed more than 250 executive orders since taking office. Some are innocuous; others, not so much -- permitting the use of interrogation techniques most experts consider torture, for instance. Some are still classified. The Obama transition team will need to go through these with a fine-tooth comb, identifying executive orders that require immediate change or reversal.

Even more complicated, Justice Department lawyers in hundreds of pending cases are still advancing the legal theories developed by the Bush administration's political appointees. The Obama team will need to carefully review every case. Otherwise, imagine the mess if President Obama announces on Jan. 21 that his administration will never sanction torture, but lower-ranking career lawyers in the executive branch continue, in pending litigation, to advance the same old Bush administration arguments defending "enhanced interrogation.''

The administration also appears to be seeking the last-minute conversion of some political appointee job slots to career civil service positions. If Bush appointees can "burrow'' into the civil service, Obama is more or less stuck with them.

Before Bush's inauguration, Clinton staffers allegedly removed all the W's from White House keyboards. In a new twist, the Bush administration appears to be trying to leave a lot of hidden W's behind.

This, incidentally, is why -- contrary to some net-roots hopes -- Clinton administration veterans also won't be going gently into that good night. "Change'' is great, but it is difficult to implement when you're constantly stepping on bureaucratic land mines. Obama needs people who understand the federal rule-making process, who know why the Office of Management and Budget can halt the secretary of state's best-laid plans, who know which obscure Justice Department offices are the likely repository of crucial information, and who can undertake a rapid bureaucratic de-mining operation. And virtually the only Democrats under 65 who know these things are Clinton administration veterans.

Obama has an ambitious agenda, but housecleaning will come first. Keep asking for change -- but it may take a while for Obama to sweep all those little W's out the door.

Brooks is a professor at Georgetown University Law Center. E-mail her at rbrooks@latimescolumnists.com.

Comments?

Comments

[DanielC]

This all brings to mind the word:

"...impeachment is off the table..."

And guess what she got re-elected too. *sigh*

dsc

[Slip]

Gun control? On Election Day, the administration put forward a rule to end the 25-year-old ban on carrying loaded weapons in national parks. EXCELLENT!

"enhanced interrogation.'' YES!!! Red posative Black negative.

[MJB]

It's too bad they won't be prosecuted for their crimes against this country.I believe one of the first things our new President should do is have at least the top two criminals,B & C, arrested before they can make their getaway. The Bush presidencies have made a mockery of this country! What a legacy to have! Not only did my father screw up and screw the country but so didn't I is what baby Bush should be saying now.

[Richard L. Wolfe]

Me thinks the writer is a partisan. Thus, I read her comments with a grain of salt. If Bush did some things to slow down the Socialization of America then more power to him. When the Clinton/Obama team invades the White House I think the Clinton staffers should be made to put those W's back on the Keyboards.

[Slip]

Buch ain't the only ones leaving Gotchas

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/story/679168.html

Tell me once again what the .01 sales tax increase was to be used for???

[Richard L. Wolfe]

MJB, Where were you between 92-2000 doing the Rip Van Winkle thing?

[MJB]

No Dick I remember The Clinton legacy also. But as far as familial presidents go these two were by far the worst when it came to domestic affairs.
While the Bush's get richer the US gets poorer.The Bush's cared more for their cronies (the Saud family) than they did for the US.

[Nick]

"Gun control? On Election Day, the administration put forward a rule to end the 25-year-old ban on carrying loaded weapons in national parks."

Is that such a bad thing? I mean, I would hate to go to Yellowstone and have a bear kill me, when I possibly could have shot it.

Are they going to remove the Hs from the keyboards? LOL

[Denney Clements]

Schools, Slip. Different government.

dc

[SocasteeSam]

After eight years of frat boy fart jokes and and malignant malapropisms in the white house, good riddance. A puppet head of a shadow government of the proverbial "nastiest of men with the nastiest of motives" (H.L. Mencken) will be heading back to the ranch to richly deserved obscurity.
I am reminded of Gerald Ford's 1975 comment upon assuming the presidency: "America's long national nightmare is over."
Chris Rock said it best: "What's wrong with a black man as president? We've had a retard in there for eight years!"
"W" stands for "worst", ever.

Socastee Sam

[Denney Clements]

W's worst "crime" may be remembered as the way his panic and that of his treasury sec. accelerated the damage of the mortgage crisis, sending the credit and job markets sprialing, after which the treasure sec. said, as in last week, "never mind, I'm leaving it to the next administration." We're really going to need the good Lord's help getting though December and January until Obama's impressive new economic team takes over. We can't be rid of the Bush administration quickly enough.

dc