Obama set to reverse Bush's stem-cell policy: Advisor
Barack Obama heads to the White House for his first post-election meeting with President George Bush this week, as Americans await signals of how their new leader will confront the overwhelming array of challenges facing the United States.
John Podesta, the president-elect’s transition chief, said today the incoming administration was reviewing Mr Bush’s executive orders on stem cell research, oil and gas drilling, and other matters.
Mr Podesta said the president can use such orders to move quickly without waiting for Congress to act, highlighting the extraordinary powers a president can wield beyond signing legislation approved by Congress.
He added people should expect Mr Obama to use those powers to reverse many policies of the Bush administration when he takes office in January.
“I think across the board, on stem cell research, on a number of areas, you see the Bush administration even today moving aggressively to do things that I think are probably not in the interest of the country,” Mr Podesta said on Fox television.
“There’s a lot that the president can do using his executive authority without waiting for congressional action, and I think we’ll see the president do that,” he said.
Mr Bush has limited national spending on stem cell research, a position championed by opponents of abortion rights.
Mr Obama has supported the research in an effort to find cures for diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
Also, the federal Bureau of Land Management is opening about 360,000 acres of public land in Utah to oil and gas drilling, leading to protests from environmentalists.
“They want to have oil and gas drilling in some of the most sensitive, fragile lands in Utah,” Mr Podesta said. “I think that’s a mistake.”
Mr Podesta told Fox television Mr Obama was working on building a Cabinet that is diverse, including Republicans and independents as part of a broad coalition.
Valerie Jarrett, co-chairwoman of the Obama transition team, said Michelle Obama, the next first lady, would focus on her two daughters and has no interest in a seat at her husband’s decision-making table.
Ms Jarrett told NBC television Mrs Obama would first work to settle her daughters – 10-year-old Malia and seven-year-old Sasha – into their new life at the White House. Then, Mrs Jarrett said, the next first lady wanted to help women juggle a career and motherhood, assist military spouses and promote volunteerism.
While the president-elect vowed on Friday to make a second economic stimulus package his first order of business, unemployment climbed to the highest level in more than a decade. The US stock market continued wobbling on a mainly downward trajectory, home prices continued sinking and global challenges did not abate.
To that end, Mr Obama spoke yesterday with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev - part of an ongoing series of telephone dialogues with world leaders, whose actions going forward will play heavily on the next president’s ability to concentrate on US domestic concerns from taxes, to health care, to vast spending on restructuring energy policy even as the government haemorrhages money to prop up the nation’s crumbling financial infrastructure.
After speaking with Mr Medvedev, a Kremlin statement said Mr Obama and the Russian leader “expressed the determination to create constructive and positive interaction for the good of global stability and development” and agreed that their countries had a common responsibility to address “serious problems of a global nature.”
According to the Kremlin statement, Mr Medvedev and Mr Obama believe an “early bilateral meeting” should be arranged.
A Bush administration plan for setting up a missile shield close to Russia’s borders has badly frayed US-Russian relations.
