Obama's coming executive orders.(Inside Track)(Barack Obama)

The media is anxiously speculating about what it hopes will be a rash of Obama executive orders overturning those issued during the past eight years by President George W. Bush. Obama's staff began as early as August assembling a list of executive orders to be reviewed and possibly reversed. According to a report in the New York Times, the assessment is underway, "but a full list of policies to be overturned will not be announced by Mr. Obama until he confers with new members of his cabinet."

It is expected that the new president will take action through executive orders in several areas, notably on issues related to abortion and stem cells, as well as energy and the environment. It is thought that he will likely reverse the so-called "gag" order forbidding taxpayer funding of international abortion counseling and clinics that was reinstated by George W. Bush after the Clintons left the White House. It is also expected that he will act through executive order to restrict drilling and exploration for oil on public lands.

When John Podesta, Obama's transition team co-chair, was pressed by Fox ...