These Obama days are such a contrast to the Bush days, 2,920 days of nightmares, a gruesome constant loop of Viva La Muerte, in its red tinted hallucinations. With Obama it’s more like two steps forward, one step back — sort of like what any of us would wish we’d do at our best. Not everything Obama does is to be cheered; some, in fact, booed, but day after day we find something to be tremendously heartened by. Today it is his suspension of a December 2008 Bush rule, which waived requirements that agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers consult with experts at the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service when undertaking projects like building dams.

Today’s decision did not throw out the Bush administration rule, which had prompted lawsuits from California and a number of environmental groups. Instead, Mr. Obama asked that the secretaries of commerce and the interior “review” the Bush regulation and determine whether new rules are needed.

“Until such a review is completed,” Mr. Obama wrote, “I request the heads of all agencies to exercise their discretion, under the new regulation, to follow the prior longstanding consultation and concurrence practices” involving the Fish and Wildlife Services and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The Sierra Club reacted with unmitigated joy.

Green Inc, a NY Times blog