Obama could face political and legal hurdles to undoing Bush executive orders
Yesterday we looked at the potential for Obama to make some quick changes to federal policies through the reversal of Bush administration executive orders. The WSJ has a piece today looking at some of the potential pitfalls of such action.
The two problems Obama could run into are: politics and the law.
The political issue is something that any leader has to navigate when making policy decisions. The article notes that incoming administrations can cause a partisan backlash if they reverse policies supported by their opponents. However, this is almost like saying the sky is blue. The key for Obama to reversing any policies that are popular with the Republicans will be to do so soberly and in a nonpartisan fashion. If he takes the Pelosi approach to leading, and shoves the changes in the other party’s face, he will have major problems throughout his term.
The other problem Obama may face in overturning executive orders is the law. Although the president has substantial discretion to act within spheres of power given to him by the constitution or delegated by the congress, he cannot just void otherwise valid contracts. For example, although Obama may want to overturn some executive orders dealing with drilling in Utah or offshore, he cannot just cancel lease contracts that have already been signed. Contracts are still contracts. This could lead to a situation where the Bush administration will rush to push through drilling leases so that Obama cannot undue that policy.
However, in places where there are no binding contracts, and as long as he is willing to accept or diffuse any political backlash, Obama will still have significant discretion in deciding which executive orders to overrule.
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