More of the same amid Obama's 'change'

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano highlighted another case last week where Obama is in sync with Bush. She said the government won't be able to meet the 2012 congressional deadline for screening all cargo coming into the U.S. for radiological and nuclear materials. Both administrations argued that the rule requires agreements with other countries and the deadline won't work.

Beyond national security, campaign-trail calls for an early end to the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans vanished when the economy went into free fall. Nor is Obama inclined to force a renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, as he hinted during the campaign that he might do.

Won't extend tax cuts
Still, Obama won't extend tax cuts for the rich, as Republicans want. He plans to let the lower rates on the wealthy go back up on schedule and further ding the rich by limiting their deductions starting in 2011.

In another case, the administration is in court defending a last-minute Bush rule even as it conducts a 90-day review of the policy. On Jan. 9, a Bush rule took effect that allows people to bring loaded, concealed weapons into national parks. The Obama administration argued against a preliminary injunction to put the rule on hold, saying the court should be allowed to reach its conclusion.

Obama can point to any number of swift policy reversals. He signed legislation to provide health coverage to 11 million children that had been twice vetoed by Bush. He issued pro-union executive orders and signed a law to help workers suing over pay discrimination.

He is shifting more troops to Afghanistan and aiming to order all U.S. combat troops to leave Iraq by August of next year. His attorney general declared waterboarding to be torture, setting a sharply different tone from the past administration. Obama has promised to close the Guantanamo detention center within a year.

In some cases, Obama hasn't acted fast enough or gone far enough for those eager for change.

'Deeply disappointed'
Groups that had been critical of Bush's support for religious organizations grumbled when Obama expanded and redefined the White House office that helps those charities. Barry Lynn, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said he was shocked that Obama hadn't reversed Bush executive orders that allow religious groups receiving federal money to discriminate in hiring.

"I'm deeply disappointed that he's failed to clean up even the obvious constitutional and civil rights problems of the Bush administration," Lynn said. "You don't need to change regulations. You don't need an act of Congress. You just redo the executive orders on discrimination and prohibit it."

Obama stressed that the program would not show favoritism to any religious group and would adhere to a strict separation of church and state.

Proponents of stem cell research, meanwhile, had expected the new president to immediately reverse Bush's executive order prohibiting federal financing for research involving new embryonic stem cell lines. They weren't reassured when Obama adviser David Axelrod said recently that he expected "something on that soon, I think."

"When you're dealing every day with people with a progressive disease, time really matters," said Amy Comstock Rick, president of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research.

On another issue, good-government groups cheered when Obama issued strict new ethics rules for appointees. But they question whether some appointees measure up to those standards.

Is the glass half-full or half-empty? "I'm all about the half-full," said Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight. But she added: "We're calling the shots as we see them. He's not going to get any passes from us."

More from msnbc.com U.S. officials say top al-Qaida leader killed Credit card debt, terms limit holiday spending  WorldBlog: Chinese activist in Tokyo airport limbo ConsumerMan: It’s a ruby ... but it’s not the real thing Audi R8: German precision meets Latin flair  Battling for resources — with guns, swords Cosmic Log: Light show sparks UFO buzz Giving back for the holidays? Send us your pictures

MORE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE

The White House Section Front

Bailout for Main Street instead of Wall Street? Accepting peace prize, Obama defends war Analysis of Obama speech: Take that, Cheney Full text of Obama's Nobel Peace Prize speech Jeweler says gate-crasher’s watch a fake Obama: Afghan troop drawdown will be gradual NYT: Salahis rattle D.C.'s ‘sense of decorum’ NYT: Slim majority backs Afghan troop plan Obama is sued for White House visitor list Battle lines forming over TARP extension The White House Section Front   Add The White House headlines to your news reader: