The big issues before the new administration like tax cuts, Medicare, missile defense and education could take months, perhaps even years, to resolve. But presidents can change some policies, like those on abortion counseling, just by signing executive orders, and they can change others by instructing the departments and agencies under them to issue new rules and regulations. With that in mind, land developers, manufacturers, abortion opponents and conservatives opposed to affirmative action and gay rights are leaning on the Bush administration to move quickly to overturn policies put in place under Mr. Clinton. If there's something that's good, we can put it back, but we ought to throw all his laundry out on the lawn. That may be easier said than done.
Executive orders require just the stroke of a pen.
President Bush could, for example, sign an order overturning the Clinton directive prohibiting discrimination against homosexuals in federal employment and security clearances. But once a department or agency approves a regulation, it has the force of law, and can be changed only through tedious bureaucratic procedures. That is why the Clinton administration worked overtime to lock in place a range of rules the Republicans find objectionable. Jay Cochran III, who analyzes government regulations as a fellow at the Mercatus Center, a research institute at George Mason University, found that all recent administrations had rushed regulations onto the books in their final hours in power. But he found that none had done it as aggressively as the Clinton administration.