http://www.nytimes.c...ml?_r=1&th&emc=th

In a welcome series of orders, Mr. Obama directed federal agencies to err on the side of transparency, not the Bush-era default of secrecy and delay, in releasing records to the public. He also undid the executive order signed by President George Bush that lets past presidents and vice presidents sit indefinitely on potentially embarrassing records that belong in the public domain.

And Mr. Obama issued some of the toughest limitations yet on the power of lobbyists to influence government from within. Under the new rules, anyone who leaves the Obama administration will be barred from lobbying the executive branch for the remainder of Mr. Obama’s time in office, rather than the yearlong ban Mr. Bush employed. In addition, no one may serve in the Obama administration if he or she lobbied an executive agency in the preceding two years.

Obama is starting off on the right foot, reversing the Bush administration's excessive secrecy and cutting off lobbyists.

On the other hand, he already wants to put the first exception to his own policy to allow William Lynn to become deputy secretary of defense. Not a good sign, but I won't begrudge him a few exceptions on the lobbying part right now. There are some jobs where everybody who is qualified is lobbying for somebody. He needs to get this policy out and make clear that he is going to stick to it down the road though.

I would also like to see him take some of these things to Congress and get them put into law, so they can't easily be reversed again by the next president.

Jay

The ones that actually relate to presidential power are outside Congresses scope.

But a lot of executive orders spell out how the president thinks a particular law should be taken. Congress can pass laws that spell that stuff out. And there are many, such as the promotion of contraceptives, that are actually matters of budget that should be under Congressional control anyway.

Jay