Although I am partial to Barack Obama, the presidential field has been reduced to three candidates, all of whom are superior to the present Oval office occupant. In January of next year, whoever who takes office is likely to immediately take steps to end some of the more offensive policies of the Bush administration. Specifically:

First, the Justice Department is not a political arm of the administration. It is to be an impartial enforcer of the law. Under Alberto Gonzalez, one of the most inept public servants in recent history, Justice took orders from the political arm of the administration. Instead of ruling impartially and going after wrongdoers even if they were within the administration, as Justice has done in the past, lawyers such as John Yoo saw it as their job to conjure up twisted legal justifications for what the worst elements of the administration wanted to do: Torture, institute broad wiretapping and gut habeus corpus. Yoo's basic conclusion: If the president wants to do it, it is legal. That is not the rule of law, it is lawlessness. It has to stop if the Constitution is to remain vital.

Second, I believe all three present presidential candidates would honor the Geneva Conventions--unlike the Bush administration, which treated the valuable and venerable agreement with contempt. "Quaint," is how Gonzalez termed the Conventions. How many decades it will take for anybody to believe us when we say we don't torture, who knows. But the swearing in of a new president will go a long ways towards repairing the damage.

Third, an area which hasn't gotten a lot of attention: The Bush administration has edited or suppressed scientific reports from the executive branch when such reports contained information or findings which might have been unpopular with some of the president's more far out supporters. Neither Reagan nor Nixon ever considered editing science to appease their supporters. Fortunately, I can't see any of the present presidential candidates going to such lengths to protect the fragile fantasies of the ignorant.

Fourthly, none of the present candidates has shown a willingness to demonize disadvantaged blocks of society for electoral gain. To Bush's credit, he hasn't fallen for the anti-immigrant hatred. However, he made a big deal out of gay marriage in order to get votes four years ago. His heart wasn't in it, but he did it anyway. And then he forgot about the whole issue once elected.

So, we have some progress.